


somewhere more than a planet away

by prismvtic



Series: pixels and pain (5h black mirror au) [2]
Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: Angst and Humor, F/F, Lesbians in Space, Multi, Rating May Change, Virtual Reality, Workplace Relationship, asexual!ally, part one focuses on platonic ot5 with some camren, part two focuses on the development of camren and norminah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 21:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13533096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prismvtic/pseuds/prismvtic
Summary: “This is theUSS Callister, Space Fleet’s finest, exploring the furthest reaches of the known universe and beyond.”Camila Cabello always wanted to work for the great tech company Callister Inc.- she just didn’t expect to get trapped on a freaking spaceship in a digital hell because of it. Now she must convince her co-workers to escape the terrible place they’ve been trapped in.(Based on S4 Black Mirror episode: “USS Callister”)





	somewhere more than a planet away

The only reason Camila Cabello spent six years working her butt off in college was to get the best education for coding as she could. Her goal? Work for the first company to ever create a multiplayer online gaming experience using virtual reality. The company, Callister Inc., was headed and founded by two genius individuals: Lauren Jauregui and Louis Tomlinson. Everyone spoke so highly of Lauren and her incredible marketing strategies, but Camila was more impressed by Louis.

Louis Tomlinson created the code for _Infinity_. And the code? Absolutely gorgeous. Camila had never seen anything like it in the history of online gaming. It seemed unfathomable that a code so perfect didn’t have any flaws. Not one person had ever reported any major game-breaking bugs. Camila was desperate to meet the man behind the work.

It was her first day at the company. Her first day as a junior employee in Engine Architecture. To say that she was ecstatic was an understatement.

The elevator dinged, signaling that she was on the thirteenth floor. Camila took a deep breath and stepped out into the lobby. There was a gate locked by some security system that only used passes and a woman with tan skin and a high ponytail behind the counter. Camila walked up and cleared her throat.

The woman looked up. Camila got a better view of the nametag on her chest. Her name was Ariana apparently.

“Uh, hi,” Camila greeted. “I’m new here. How do I… get in?”

Ariana narrowed her eyes slightly. “Last name?”

“Cabello,” Camila answered.

The receptionist looked down at her keyboard and typed something in. “Camila?”

Camila nodded. “Yup, that’s me.”

Ariana pressed a few more buttons. A small plastic pass came out from one of the slots. “There’s your pass. Make sure you get it renewed on the first of each month.”

“Thank you,” Camila said cheerfully as she used her pass to open the gate.

“You’re welcome.”

Camila looked around the area in awe. There were rows of people lying down on recliners with their virtual reality systems hooked up. All of them must have been currently in-game, possibly beta testing new updates.

An ebony-skinned woman was working at the coffee machine, humming to herself. Camila smiled and tried to walk past her but she finished making her coffees in time.

The woman raised a brow, perplexed. “Oh, are you a new intern?”

Camila shook her head. “Ah, no… I’m a junior employee. Engine architecture.”

“Lucky,” the woman grumbled. “I’ve been here for six months and I’m still a damn intern. To think they’d hire someone new before they promoted me!”

“Er, I’m sorry about that,” Camila mumbled awkwardly. She wasn’t sure how to react to the fact that she probably just stole a job from someone.

The intern shook her head. “No worries. There’s no openings in marketing anyways. Either that, or Frangipane hates my guts.” She extended her hand out. “I’m Normani. Normani Hamilton.”

Camila took Normani’s hand and shook it. “Camila. Camila Cabello.”

Normani smiled and grabbed a coffee cup from her tray. “Hey, want a coffee?” Camila smiled and nodded, taking it from her. “It was originally for someone else… but he’s a bit of dick. Consider it a welcome gift from your resident miserable intern.”

She chuckled and took a sip from the cup. A vanilla latte with some weird tasting milk, not too bad. “Thanks, Normani.” Normani smiled and went off to go distribute her coffees. Camila took a deep breath and made her way into the office area.

She was nearly knocked over by a tall blonde that was talking loudly in her earpiece.

“Those are very, very, big numbers. Are you sure that’s right?” she spoke loudly. She glanced around the room. “But if you did it right, I’m sure we’ll gain a massive following on Twitter in the next few days. Perfect for right before Christmas! More followers means more sales!”

Camila chuckled to herself. The blonde must have been working for the advertisement and communications part of the company.

She walked over to the more _technological_ part of the company. Over at one of the desks, a short girl with dirty blonde hair was typing away at her computer while her music blasted loudly. Camila smirked, watching her headbang during the chorus of the song and type at the same time. At the desk across from her, a boy covered in tattoos was working on textures for the game.

And then she came across her real destination, the two offices at the end of the technology area. On the right was _Lauren Jauregui, Chief Executive Officer_ , _co-founder of Callister Inc._ Camila peered into the office. The woman inside had her back faced to the door and was talking on the phone. The left office belonged to the person she really wanted to see: _Louis Tomlinson, Chief Technical Officer, co-founder of Callister Inc._

Camila took a deep breath and opened the door. A man with wavy brown hair and green eyes looked up from his desk.

“Oh,” Louis said boredly. “The ladies’ restroom is thataway. The sign’s kind of confusing.”

She shook her head and smiled widely. “You’re Louis Tomlinson, right?” Camila couldn’t actually believe she was meeting her _hero._

“Right…” he trailed off with furrowed brows as she reclined in his chair.

“Yeah, hi. I’m…” Camila folded her hands together nervously. “I’m Camila, Camila Cabello.” She took a deep breath and shifted her weight on her feet. “Um, I just started here today, coding on the update, and I just wanted to, uh, pass on my admiration to the person who actually designed _Infinity_.”

Louis cracked a small smile.

“The procedural algorithm is amazing,” she gushed. “It’s just some beautiful code. I’ve never seen anything like that, and my dad’s big on coding.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s actually the reason why I wanted to work here,” Camila admitted. She glanced over at Louis and his computer screen. Oh, gosh, she wasn’t interrupting anything, was she? “You must be busy. I’m so sorry!”

Louis shook his head. “Ah… no worries, I’m not.”

“Sorry!” Camila apologized again with a nervous smile.

“Like I said, no worries.” His smile grew.

Camila chuckled and stepped further inside the office. “Well, I’m just fangirling. Don’t mind me, sorry.” Louis joined in on her laughter. Her gaze moved to the bookshelf on Louis’s wall. Her eyebrows rose upwards. He had a huge collection of old tapes for some sci-fi TV show. “Ooh, vintage,” she remarked as she took a step closer to it.

“It’s _Space Fleet_ ,” he explained. “It’s a TV show. Before your time, and mine…” Louis turned his chair over to his collection and let out a dreamy sigh. “It was visionary.”

Camila picked one of them up and glanced at the cover. “Is this on, like, tape?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it on VHS, the DVD, Blu-ray. The whole damn thing, seasons one to six.” Camila let out an “aha” and returned to look at the rest of the tapes. Her boss was a space geek. She _loved_ it. “Netflix has it these days. But no matter what, you’ll still get the full experience of being aboard the _USS Callister._ ”

“Okay, yeah. I gotcha.” Camila grinned.

“Mhm,” Louis said.

Then she remembered what he said: Callister. Callister, like the company? “Is that where you got the name?”

“Yeah, when we set up the company, uh, I suggested that we call it Callister,” Louis explained, bringing a hand up to scratch his head. “You know, as a little tribute…” She nodded along to what her boss was saying. “Jauregui didn’t get the reference, but she let me have that one.”

Camila’s gaze moved to a poster on the wall. That had to be a poster of the cast. The men were wearing brightly colored shirts and dark pants, while the women had multi-colored dresses that were so short that they could have been mini-skirts. “Mini-skirted damsels,” Camila remarked with a giggle. “A little cold for that in space.”

“ _That_ is just what a Bargradian sand warrior would say-”

The door swung open to reveal a distressed woman in her late twenties. She had piercing green eyes and jet black hair that was rather disheveled. The woman tugged on the top of her pantsuit. Camila bit her lip. _Damn,_ she was kind of hot. “Lou, Christmas is closing in like a goddamn meteor. We’ve got customers all over our tits waiting for the _Infinity_ update. Please tell me it’ll be up and running before the weekend?”

Louis bowed his head a little bit. “Oh, I’ll ask Ally…”

The woman huffed and slammed her clipboard down on Louis’s desk. “You’re the fucking CTO. You should be telling people things like I’m telling you right now.”

He pursed his lips and nodded. “Alright, alright, I’ll talk to her.”

“Good,” she said with a satisfied smile. The woman finally noticed Camila’s presence and gave her a warm smile. “Hello.”

“Hi…” Camila trailed off awkwardly. “Sorry, I couldn’t find a good moment to-”

“Oh, you must be new,” she interrupted her. Camila nodded with flushed cheeks. She didn’t expected to be interrupted like that. “Uh, I’m Lauren Jauregui. I run the company.” She held her hand out for Camila to shake it. She could see the nerves present on Lauren’s features. Camila understood why, it was always embarrassing to appear like a cruel dictator in front of new employees when they clearly weren’t.

Camila flashed her a soft smile as she shook her hand. Lauren slowly pulled her hand away. “I mean, _we_ run the company. Kind of.” She gestured to Louis with a wary look. “Lou here is the hardware, and I’m the shiny front.”

“I’m Camila Cabello,” Camila said. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Jauregui.”

“Likewise, but please, call me Lauren. That makes me feel a little old, I’ll be honest,” Lauren replied. She raised one perfect brow. “Which department?”

“Engine architecture.”

“And it’s your first day?” Lauren inquired.

Camila nodded eagerly. “Uh, y-yeah,” she stuttered.

Lauren crossed her arms over her chest, a sly smirk forming on her lips. “Have you had the grand tour?” Camila shook her head. Lauren took a step forward and grabbed her hand. “No, please, allow me. I’m free for the next hour, so I’ll help you get set up.”

“Uh, okay.” Camila turned back to Louis. “It was _so_ nice to meet you.”

Louis just shrugged and returned to his work. Lauren squeezed her hand and pulled her out into the technology area.

“I made sure to set up a very interesting environment here at Callister,” Lauren went on to explain. “People call it a carefree environment. I like to think of it as a care-full one.” She stopped walking and pointed to the many desks and cubicles around them. “Everyone here is very caring. We all care about each other, our work, and the customers. Whatever you need, Callister will make sure to help you in any way.”

They passed the short girl that Camila saw before. Lauren tapped the girl’s shoulder. “Alright there, Hernandez?” The girl named ‘Hernandez’ didn’t respond and continued working on her coding. Lauren rolled her eyes and grinned at Camila. She pulled the headphones off of her.

“This ain’t my mama’s broken-” Hernandez sang. She gasped when she realized her headphones were gone and swung around in her chair. “Ah! Oh, hi, Lauren!”

“Hard at work, I see?” Lauren smirked. “Country music and preparing the new Christmas update is a weird combination…”

She shrugged and pointed to her screen. “I gotta get the go-ahead from Mr. Tomlinson, sorry!” The short girl glanced at Camila. “Who’s this?”

“I’m Camila Cabello, I’m new.” Camila held her hand out.

“Ally Brooke Hernandez,” Ally introduced herself as she shook her hand. “Welcome to Callister.”

Lauren chuckled. “Keep up the good work, Ally.” Ally sent them a wave and put her headphones back in. Lauren led her through the many cubicles, greeting the tattooed graphic designer from across Ally. His name was Justin Bieber and he was quite flirty. Lauren scowled at him and told him to keep it in his pants.

“Are you always this informal with your employees?” Camila asked as they walked near the staff lounge.

Lauren shrugged. “No, only with special ones.” She beamed at her and winked. That shut Camila up. She smiled and bit her lip to hide her blush.

“Oh,” she mumbled.

“You’re catching on, Camila,” she mused. “It’ll be good to have someone who has a good knack for that.” Lauren’s nostrils flared when her gaze moved to the coffee machine. Camila tilted her head in confusion. “Hansen! I’m not paying you to flirt with the intern, am I?” The tall blonde from before and Normani were standing very close to each other in front of the coffee machine. Judging by the look on Normani’s face, she looked like she wanted to eat the blonde.

Normani took a step back and looked down. The blonde rolled her eyes. “Well, aren’t you a walking-talking vagblock, Lauser,” she hissed.

“Dinah…” Normani warned.

Lauren giggled. “That wasn’t what you were saying last February, hm?”

Dinah rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Lauren.” Her gaze locked onto Camila. “Who are you, newbie? Lauren’s new assistant?”

“No,” Camila quickly said. “I’m Camila Cabello. Engine architecture.”

“Dinah Jane Hansen,” she said with a smirk. “Marketing and advertising.”

Lauren clapped her hands together. “Anyways, Camila, let me show you to your desk.” She beckoned her to come with her and grinned. Camila followed Lauren through the many rows of desks until they stopped at one right by the window. “And this is your station here… I hope the IT department already set things up for you…”

She leaned over and turned the computer on. _Welcome, Camila!_ displayed on the screen. Camila found herself grinning widely. “Wow, I can’t believe I’m working for Callister. This is so cool!”

Lauren smiled. “We’re happy you’re here. Or at least, I am, for sure.” Camila laughed as Lauren flipped her wavy hair. “I should… get back to work. I have a conference call soon. Let me know if you have any questions, alright?”

“Yeah, of course!” Camila beamed and took a seat in her desk chair. “Bye, Lauren.”

Lauren waved and walked backwards towards her office. “See you around, Camila.”

* * *

The second day was even better. Ariana greeted her at the front desk with a small smile and she made small talk with Normani by the coffee machine. But what she was really more excited for? Actually coding for _Infinity_. She couldn’t wait to see the secret to the success of one of the best virtual reality online games of all time.

Camila reached her workstation bright and early. She plugged her bluetooth earbuds in and began typing away. Her main priority was working on the update. She had to review some of the previously written code and then make edits if there was something wrong. One variable out of place could totally screw up the game.

She jolted when she felt someone tap her shoulder. Camila gasped and took her earbuds out. Lauren smiled and took a seat on her desk. “Hey, Camila. Do you feel like you have everything you need here? Is your computer working okay? Any questions?”

Camila shook her head. “Oh, I’m good. Thanks for asking.”

“No problem,” Lauren replied. She reached over and placed her hand on Camila’s shoulder. Camila’s eyebrow rose upwards. “That’s a nice sweater.”

She blushed and bowed her head. “Oh, thanks…”

“Cashmere?”

“Yeah, how did you know?” Camila asked.

Lauren chuckled and shrugged. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.” She removed her hand from Camila’s shoulder. “Well, I should get going. I thought I’d just check in. Maybe we can take lunch together?”

Lunch? With the CEO of Callister? Camila was hoping to spend it with Louis Tomlinson. But Lauren had been nothing but nice to her, so why should she say no?

“Yeah! I mean, if I have the time. I got a lot of code to look through,” she answered.

A wide grin broke on Lauren’s features, like she was relieved by her answer. “Okay, great. I’ll come by at noon.”

Camila nodded in response. Lauren slipped off the desk and walked off in the direction of her office.

Her gaze moved to Louis’s office. Perhaps she should pay him a visit? She was very interested in befriending him after all. Camila stood up and walked over to Louis’s office. She raised a fist up and knocked on the door tentatively.

“Come in,” Louis said flatly. Camila pushed open the door to the office.

“Hi, Louis,” she greeted with a small smile. “Um, I was going to go fix myself a coffee. Do you want one?”

Louis nodded. “Yeah… sure.” A hint of a smile formed on his lips. “Vanilla latte with skim milk.”

“Coming right up.” Camila saluted and closed the door. She hummed to herself as she made her way towards the staff lounge. The coffee machine was open so Camila quickly moved to make her and Louis’s coffee.

“Absolutely,” Dinah said from behind her. She walked up to the space next to Camila. She tilted her head so she was looking at her and made a gagging face. Camila giggled quietly as Dinah continued to talk in her ear piece.

“Mhm… Well, yes, they are great numbers. Much more of an improvement since yesterday.” Camila turned back to the coffee machine. Dinah hummed in agreement to the other person’s statement. “Well, okay. Thanks for keeping me updated. Ta-ta.”

Dinah took the earpiece out of her ear and groaned. “Total fucking twat.”

Camila nodded, hiding a small smile. “Do you want a coffee?”

“Brushed Suede, thank you,” Dinah mumbled. Camila grabbed another coffee cup from near the machine. “So, how are you settling in? _Are_ you settling in?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Camila replied enthusiastically. “Everyone here is so friendly. And it’s not at all like my last job, thank God.”

Dinah raised a brow. “Oh, really?”

“It was a toxic workplace, you know,” she explained. Her thoughts moved to Shawn Mendes, her former boss. _Fucking dick._ “My boss was a major-league bully and it’s not like here with Lauren.”

Dinah grinned. “Oh, yeah, she’s a really good person. Bit of a player though. Chuck a sandwich across a room and she’ll fuck it before it hits the ground. She flirts with every female employee, but besides that… she’s great.”

Camila laughed nervously. She wondered if Lauren was some sort of womanizer. Her suspicions were proven correct unfortunately. Camila would have to watch what she was doing around Lauren, she guessed.

“Well, there’s two bosses here, so I guess-”

Dinah snorted. “Two, how?” She raised a brow.

“Louis Tomlinson…?

“Ohh.” Dinah chuckled and shrugged. “Well, yeah, technically.”

“Mr. Tomlinson is the whole reason I’m here,” Camila gushed.

Her co-worker leaned back against the counter. “Really? Interesting.”

Camila grinned. She could go on and on about her love for Louis Tomlinson and his amazing work. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to work under an incredible mind like that, you know? His coding is… fucking amazing.” She sighed dreamily.

Dinah’s lips pursed and she tilted her head in evident confusion. “Do you have a _thing_ for him?” Her tone was laced with disgust.

“Tomlinson? No, no, no! Not at all,” she quickly replied. “I’m gay, first of all.”

“Like a lot of us here at Callister,” Dinah remarked.

Camila chuckled. “Yeah. It’s strictly professional. I love his code, not him.”

Dinah nodded. “Fucking hell.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I was going to say… don’t be too nice to him. He can be kind of a fucking creep. A little starey, if you know what I mean?”

“Oh, uh… yeah.”

Dinah leaned over to whisper something in her ear. “Keep your distance, that’s my advice.” She smiled and took her finished coffee from the machine. “Keep your distance.”

“Right, thanks!” Camila called after her. Dinah just winked and put her ear piece back in. She exhaled softly and walked back towards Louis’s office. She poked her head in the open door to find Louis working on something.

“Hi, here you go,” she breathed out, handing him the coffee.

“Thank you,” Louis said shortly.

Camila didn’t smile at him as she rushed out the door and back to her workstation. She took a seat back at her station and took a long sip of her coffee. While she drank it, she couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching her. Camila took another sip of her coffee and went back to work.

By lunchtime, Camila still had a lot to work to do, much to Lauren’s disappointment. Her boss was still kind enough to go get her lunch at the place she planned on taking her. Lauren briefly sat down with her while she ate and made small talk.

Hours later, it was finally time to go and Camila was so tired. Dinah asked her to hang out with them at a local bar they went to on Tuesdays, but she politely declined.

“You’re taking too long, bye!” Dinah called as she passed Justin’s desk.

Justin sprung out of his seat and put his coat on. “What!? There’s no bye. I’m coming!”

“Suck a dick, Justin!”

Camila chuckled to herself and packed up her things to leave.

The next day, she noticed that her discarded coffee cup was missing from the trash can. Trash days were usually on Thursdays. That was odd. She also witnessed Lauren have yet another angry outburst. Camila saw her march out of her CEO office, barely even glance at Camila, and swing open the door to Louis’s office.

“Goddamnit, Louis!” Lauren yelled. “Christmas Eve, really? Uh, not-fucking-okay!”

“Lauren, I’m-”

Lauren huffed and stomped her foot. By now, the whole office was watching them. “Do you know how many people have been on my dick about this update? What the fuck am I supposed to do when you’ve pushed it to Christmas Eve, when I said it needs to be this weekend!”

“It’s a great day in the office when Lauren tears Louis a new one,” Dinah muttered in her ear as she passed by her work station.

Lauren scowled and sighed. “Unacceptable, Tomlinson. Unacceptable!” She slammed the door and turned to the employees around her. “Sorry, guys,” she said meekly. “Carry on.”

Camila shrugged and returned to her computer.

* * *

The next thing she knew, she wasn’t working on a computer at Callister, Inc. She was in a white room lying on some flat surface. Camila moved her hand to feel around the walls and pulled herself up. She gasped and glanced around the room.

_Oh._

Camila looked down at her hands. She was wearing something baby blue, a material similar to what she saw on those posters of _Space Fleet_. Her skirt was way too short for her own good.

The electronic doors opened suddenly. Camila started breathing heavily and she moved to walk out of her room. The floor of the hallway was brightly lit. She had to be in some sort of futuristic building.

“H-Hello?” Her voice echoed through the empty hallway.

She continued walking down the hallway with her arms out. To her left was a window. Camila bent over slightly so she could get a better look. _Holy shit, I’m in space._ A vast fantasy filled with stars, planets, and galaxies overwhelmed her. She exhaled quietly. “Oh, no…”

She heard chattering in the distance and gasped. Camila straightened up. There were other people here besides her. Camila swallowed nervously and made her way towards the sound of people talking.

A bright orange door was at the end of the hallway. She pressed herself against the wall in hopes of overhearing their conversation. The door betrayed her though and slid open.

Inside a large control were five women, all wearing skimpy outfits like her and donning ridiculous vintage hairstyles. One had her feet up on the controls, two were sitting across from each other talking amiably, and the other two were leaning against the bar.

“Oh, boy,” a voice that sounded _just_ like Lauren’s spoke. “Looks like there’s a new girl in the office. And shit, she’s kinda hot. Ow! Ally, what the fuck?”

Camila stood, frozen in place. Those people were her co-workers. _What the fuck!?_ A woman with a huge blonde updo that had braided checkered patterns turned around. She was wearing a red version of her outfit. _Dinah._ “What’s your name?”

“Come in,” Lauren said. Her hair was styled in a ponytail and bun fusion. Her outfit was the exact same color as Camila’s. “Let me fix you a drink.” She walked over to a shelf in the corner that was stocked with multi-colored vials. “We have everything! From Bengarian phlegm shots to uh… ooh! Distilled root blood from the Cangor quadrant.” She held up her own glass that had an odd yellow substance in it. “Pick your poison. Some of this is actually poison, funny enough, so don’t be shy.”

Camila took a deep breath and looked around the room in confusion. Why did everyone seem so calm about being trapped in some weird spaceship? “A-Am I dreaming?” she stammered.

“Yeah…” Dinah forced a smile. “Nope. You’re not.”

“I’d remember dreaming,” a girl with blue skin and a yellow outfit said as she checked her nails. Her hair was styled similarly to Lauren’s, except it was more half-up half-down than hers.

“Me too,” an ebony-skinned woman with a short bob and a similar yellow outfit said.

Camila gulped. “But, where am I?”

“This is the _USS Callister_ , Space Fleet’s finest, exploring the furthest reaches of the known universe and beyond,” Lauren answered indifferently. She gestured to her co-workers around her. “We are its loyal space crew and now, apparently, so are you.” Lauren held her glass up to her lips. “Cheers, babe.” She knocked her head back and slurped it down.

Camila bit her lip and shook her head. No way. No way this was happening. This had to be a dream.

“Your name?” Dinah pulled her out of her thoughts. “Sweetie, what’s your name?”

“Camila,” Camila replied. “W-We’ve met. We’re kind of friends.

Dinah shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe, in the real world. I wouldn’t have any way of knowing.”

“What do you mean?”

The blonde stood up and frowned. “You should sit down.” She gestured to a vacant seat next to her.

“No,” Camila mumbled. “I don’t wanna sit down…” She took a step back away from the group. “I need to know what the hell is going on.”

“You’re aboard Louis Tomlinson’s ship,” the short blonde standing near Lauren answered. Her hair was like a curly bush sitting on her shoulders. Near her temples were two electronic contraptions that looked like built in computer chips. While one of her co-workers had blue skin, the other looked like a cyborg. She too was wearing a blue outfit like Lauren and Camila.

“Louis Tomlinson, the CTO?”

“Here, he’s Captain Tomlinson, our fearless leader,” Lauren pointed out. She took another sip from her yellow drink.

Dinah started moving closer to her. “Yeah, you’re seriously going to need to sit the fuck down.” She grabbed Camila’s arm and led her to a chair that the short blonde pulled out. She was smiling grimly at her.

Camila turned her attention to the girl who she was sure was the intern that gave her coffee the first day. She pushed away from Dinah and walked towards her. “You’re… you’re… the intern! The intern from work, right? Normani?”

“Hamilton. Normani Hamilton,” Normani confirmed. Her eyes widened. “Wait, I’m still the intern out there?”

“Oh, God,” the short blonde groaned.

Camila turned her attention to her and pointed. “You’re… You’re…”

“Ally Brooke Hernandez. Programming on the outside world, here, diagnostics,” Ally finished for her. She grabbed Camila’s hand and shook it. “Welcome.”

“Right…” Camila mumbled. She turned her head to the blue-skinned girl that hadn’t said anything. The receptionist. She recognized her from the first day. “You’re the receptionist, right?”

Ariana nodded. “Ariana.”

“Your skin is blue!”

“Weird blue alien skin, I know,” Ariana scoffed. “It’s fucked up.” She glanced down at her hand. “Almost sort of racist…”

Camila felt like she was going to be sick. She felt woozy all of a sudden and groaned. Stumbling backwards, she thought she hit the ground, but Dinah caught her just in time.

Dinah grunted and pulled Camila towards the vacant chair. “Oi, Ralph! Fix her something she’ll recognize. Vodka.” She gently let her down and Camila moaned, rubbing her temples while Ally rubbed her back.

“So, what’s it like out there now?” Normani asked eagerly.

“H-Huh?” Camila stammered.

“What year is it?”

Camila slumped back in her chair. “Oh…”

“Mani, please!” Dinah hissed. “Can’t you see she’s going through a shit load of stress now?”

“Year!?” Camila spat. “I… I saw you today!”

“Ooh,” Lauren blurted out from the bar area, spinning around suddenly to face Camila. “Did you see me? Did I look thin? Is my ass still banging?”

Camila blinked. “Uh…”

“Guys! Quit it with the questions!” Dinah yelled.

“Someone needs to be straight with me,” Camila shouted. “I need the honest truth!”

Dinah nodded and quickly moved over to face her. “Okay, okay!” She knelt down in front of her. “This is _Infinity._ That’s what we’re all in now, where all of this exists.”

“ _Infinity,_ the g-game?”

“Tomlinson’s got his own modified version of it, reskinned to look like his favorite TV show,” she continued.

“Space Thing? Space Jam? Space-”

Lauren placed a small glass of clear bubbling liquid near her. Camila eagerly took it. “ _Space Fleet,_ ” she corrected. “Hence the groovy decor.”

“And this _tasteful_ getup,” Dinah added, gesturing to her mini-skirt as she stood up and huffed.

“ _Infinity,_ ” Camila mumbled. This was so fucked up. Was it even possible to trap people in a game? Oh, who was she kidding, Louis Tomlinson was a genius. He could probably do anything he wanted with code. “But that’s an online game! Like a multiplayer deal. This…”

“It’s his developmental build,” Ally interrupted her. “It’s sealed off so only he can control it. He keeps it offline so the custom code he’s written can’t be detected and deleted.”

Lauren chuckled dryly. “A bubble universe, ruled by an asshole god.”

Camila swallowed the lump in her throat. “He put us in here,” she stated more like a question rather than a fact.

“Mhm,” Dinah said. “Drink your vodka.”

She glanced down at her vodka class then back up at Dinah. “How do we get out?”

“No, really, Camila, drink your vodka,” she insisted.

Camila shrugged and drank the whole tiny glass.

“You can’t leave.”

She choked on her drink in surprise. “What!?”

Dinah knelt down next to her and took her hand. “None of us can, because you’re not actually you.” Camila tensed at her words. “I know it’s fucking insane, but you’re a _copy_ of you.”

“A digital clone,” Ally clarified.

“No, no, no, no,” Camila rushed out. “No, I’m… I’m me! I am me. I am myself,” she insisted angrily.

Lauren shook her head. “No, not the real you.”

Ally pursed her lips. “Tomlinson’s made an identical digital version of you, of all of us. From your DNA. He’ll have it harvested somehow.”

“He told me he got mine from the rim of a smoothie cup,” Lauren seethed, banging her hand on the bar. She pointed to Normani. “He got Mani’s juices from the bathroom. Fucking creep, hanging around the ladies’ room.”

“Lauren,” Normani hissed. “You have _got_ to let that go. She does not need details.”

Dinah sighed. “Basically, he’s got some sort of machine-”

“I theorize an advanced biometric DNA virtual cloner,” Ally blurted out excitedly.

Dinah rolled her eyes, glaring at Ally. “Yes, yes, he’s got a fucking machine! That’s what I said, Smallz.” Ally grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest. She turned back to Camila. “He’s fed your DNA in, he put you inside his computer, and, bam, you pop up here like a Pop-Tart.” She smiled grimly and squeezed Camila’s hands. “We’ve all been through it. He brings us in for different reasons, shit we did in the office.” Camila swallowed nervously. What could she have done to piss him off? She had been nothing but nice to Louis the past three days. “I called him out for staring,” Dinah told her.

“I reset admin permissions on a test build for fourteen minutes,” Ally sighed. “Also, excessive country music listening.”

“Insufficient smiling,” Ariana grumbled.

“I brought in the wrong goddamn sandwich,” Normani complained. “Ham instead of pulled pork. They’re from the same animal, it shouldn’t make a difference!”

Lauren huffed. “I think you _know_ why I’m here.” She turned to Camila and scowled. “But never mind the reasons, alright? The point is that we’re stuck in Tomlinson’s fucking playground, and that’s all you need to know.”

Camila shuddered. “This is… a dream. It has to be.”

Lauren shook her head. “It’s more like an eternal waking nightmare from which there is no escape. Sorry to break it to you, babe.” She brought the glass up to her lips and finished her drink.

Camila screamed loudly and flew off the chair. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!” She ran towards the other side of the room and started banging on the wall.

Dinah facepalmed. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” She stood up and groaned. “I was trying to bring her in gently!”

“The quicker she gets it, the easier it’ll be,” Lauren whispered.

Suddenly the systems started whirling and the lights changed.

“Daddy’s home,” Ariana singsonged as she swung her legs off the console.

Camila stood against the wall and watched as the crew members ignored her and began moving the chairs to their respective locations. “He’ll be here soon,” Normani called.

She shook her head and started running. “No! I’m getting the hell out of here!” Camila body slammed into Normani. Normani grasped her arms and frowned.

“Camila! You gotta stay on the bridge,” she urged. “He controls everything! He does shit to make us cooperate.”

“Get off!” Camila screamed and shoved Normani to the side.

“You have no idea! I’m trying to _help_ you.”

“Just leave it,” Dinah said.

Camila dashed towards the door while Normani screamed, “he’s gonna fuck us all up if she doesn’t play ball!”

She ran as fast as she could down the hallways, panting as she went. There had to be some way off the ship. It had to be some place that they haven’t checked yet. Camila shook her head and rounded the many corners until she reached her starting room. She pressed as many buttons as she could and then started banging on the door of the airlock.

“C’mon! C’mon!”

Suddenly her hand started turning orange and pixelating. Camila gasped as she watched herself get swarmed by orange pixels. She screamed and cried, expecting herself to die at any moment. “No! No!”

She appeared back in the bridge, screaming her lungs off. Camila saw Louis, sitting in a comfortable orange chair, turn around and smirk at her in amusement. She continued screaming until the pixels disappeared. _Holy shit._

She glanced around the room. Everyone was either looking at her or at their controls.

“Lieutenant Cabello,” Louis greeted with a warm smile. “Welcome aboard.” He turned to her co-workers and gestured to her. “Crew, we have a new member of the team, Science Officer Camila Cabello.”

Ally gave her a nod in greeting. Ariana lifted her fingers up and waved at her. Lauren gave her a firm smile and winked. Camila’s cheeks flushed and she looked down at her feet.

“I believe we’ve finally managed to track Bieber to an uncharted planet,” Louis explained.

Camila narrowed her eyes. “No.”

“Take your post,” Louis said. “That is an order.”

She shook her head and scowled. “I’m _not_ doing this.”

He leaned in close to her and gave her a sympathetic look. “The whole thing’s much better if you let yourself get into it,” he said in a hushed voice.

“If you think that I’m playing along with your _Space Force_ bullshit…”

“ _Space Fleet,_ ” Louis corrected her.

“Whatever,” Camila seethed, “you can think again.”

Louis chuckled slowly. “This is my ship.” He stood up and started walking towards her. “I am your captain. An order is an order.”

Camila clenched her jaw in anger. “Then go _fuck_ yourself.”

Lauren and Ariana exchanged apprehensive glances.

“Sir,” Camila added on with venom in her tone.

Louis’s smile changed to a twisted one. “Okay. So we’re doing it this way, huh?” He held his hand up with narrowed eyes.

Camila scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Are you gonna throw a fireball?” she mocked with a smirk.

Louis nodded his head and grinned. He then snapped his fingers.

Suddenly, Camila couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t see. She tried to inhale but all it came out as was muffled gasps. She brought her hands up to her face and felt it. _Holy fuck, he took my face!_ Camila needed to breathe, but she simply couldn’t.

She fell to the floor with a thud and clasped her throat in horror.

“Oh, dear,” Louis chuckled. “You can’t see. You can’t breathe. Unpleasant, isn’t it?”

Camila writhed and thrashed. She felt like she was _dying_ of suffocation.

“Do you submit?”

Camila shook her head and continued wiggling around.

“You won’t _die,_ you know.” Louis cleared his throat. “No one dies in here unless I want them to… I can keep you like this forever if I feel like it. Forever gasping for breath with a mouth that isn’t there.” He leaned closer to her. “Do you submit?” 

_Yes, yes, yes!_ Camila was practically screaming, but it came out as a muffled agreement and nodding of her head.

Louis patted her head like she was a dog of some sort. “Good girl.”

In an instant, her face came back. Camila gasped and coughed, finally breathing in air that she lost before. She breathed heavily and glared at Louis through her eyelashes. Camila wished she never saw anything spectacular about him. He was twisted, sick, psychotic, by no means a genius.

Louis returned to his seat and cleared his throat to catch Camila’s attention. “Lieutenant Cabello, Bieber’s hideout. Triangulate the signal, please.” She panted heavily and stumbled against the wall. She ran a hand through her hair, only realizing now that her hair was not long and wavy like it was in the real world. Instead her hair was in a bob like Normani’s.

She swallowed nervously and slipped past Lauren and Ariana. Lauren turned to her and gave her a sympathetic look. She refused to look back at her though. Camila slipped into the spot near the controls next to Dinah. Exhaling shakily, she looked at all of the multi-colored buttons. How was she supposed to know which one to press?

“Psst,” Dinah whispered from the other side of the board. “It’s any button. They’re all the same.” To prove her point, she pressed a button and it made a beeping noise

Camila too pressed a button and it made a similar beeping noise.

“Well?” Louis asked impatiently.

“I’m getting a signal… from a class five planet,” Camila gasped. “Rannotch.”

“Rannoch,” Dinah corrected for her quietly.

Camila turned her head to face Louis. “R-Rannoch B,” she stuttered in a hushed voice.

Louis nodded and turned to Ally. “Excellent. Hernandez, prepare the transmat system.”

Ally saluted and began typing away at her console quickly. “Of course, Captain.” Louis stood up and made his way towards a small area with white dots.

“Jauregui, Hamilton, Hansen, you’re with me,” Louis ordered as he stood on one of those white circles. “We’ll transport down to the planet, reclaim the crystal, and bring Bieber to justice.”

Lauren, Normani, and Dinah hustled over to Louis without any question. Camila watched them with awe. The fact that they were playing along with this so willingly was so appalling. They all sounded pissed about their situation earlier, so why play along?

“Actually, Cabello, you come too.” Camila’s eyes widened at the mention of her name. She glanced around the room and chewed on her lower lip. “Perfect opportunity for you to prove you’re more than a recommendation from Space Fleet. How ‘bout it?”

Ariana looked at her and nodded her head in the direction of Louis. Camila stood up suddenly and shuffled over to where Louis and her co-workers were. She shuddered and stood in the remaining circle.

“Miss Hernandez, transport,” Louis said calmly.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Ally replied, not looking up from her controls.

With a press of a button, the five of them were transported out of the ship. When they materialized, Camila saw that they were on a big red planet. It looked very similar to Mars. The ground was covered in red sand.

Lauren, Normani, and Louis held their tiny guns up and pointed them around the area.

Louis took a few steps forward while Normani and Lauren stood on guard. “Breathable atmosphere,” he noted. Their _captain_ held a metallic device up. “Scanning for plasmorthian traces…” The device beeped suddenly. “The crystal’s this way. Let’s go!” Lauren and Dinah began to follow Louis.

“Mani. Hey, Normani,” Camila whispered.

“Helmswoman Hamilton, okay?” Normani hissed. “You gotta call me Helmswoman Hamilton. He hates it when we don’t use our proper titles.”

Camila’s brows furrowed. “Okay, fine! You’ve got a gun, so let’s take him out.”

“What!? No!”

“Then give it to me!” Camila whisper-yelled as she tried to grab Normani’s gun.

Normani took a step back and scowled. “First of all, our guns don’t even work! Only his does. Second of all, that motherfucker is invincible! I am not fucking with him. Okay? Let’s go!” She sighed agitatedly and ran to catch up with the group.

Camila crossed her arms over her chest. “At least you have a gun…” She sighed and picked up her pace to catch up with the group.

They reached a dead-end of some sort. Around them were large cliffs that blocked them from going anywhere. Normani and Lauren held their guns out warily.

“Captain,” Lauren whispered.

“Shh,” Louis said as he looked at his device.

“We meet again, Captain Tomlinson!” A loud male voice screamed from the top of the cliff. Camila had to roll her eyes. This guy looked hideous. One of his eyes were white and he was holding a huge gun. The man cackled loudly. Wait, that was Justin Bieber! The graphic designer! How did she not put two and two together?

Lauren gasped. “We’re trapped!”

Louis held his gun out and pointed it at the evil guy.

The evil villain held his gun out and pointed it at him. “Not advisable.” He grinned. “My plasma grenade will turn you into screaming soup.”

“He’s not going to kill us, Captain,” Dinah said confidently. “He had the element of surprise. If he wanted to, he would’ve done it when he had the chance!”

Louis ignored her and smirked. “Haven’t worked out how to use the crystal, have you, Bieber?”

“It’s true that I require your Space Fleet knowledge… but it’s also true that you’re going to give it to me!”

“Don’t be too sure,” Louis shot back.

Justin cackled manically.

Camila silently groaned. “Jesus Christ, I…”

“Shh!” Normani shushed her with a glare.

Justin shoved his gun forward. “Let’s see how your resolve holds up once you’re devoured one by one by my Arachnajax!” He gestured to his right and a large eight-legged, hideous creature came climbing over the rocks. The monster roared loudly and flicked their tentacles.

“Holy shit! Oh my God!” Camila gasped.

Lauren came up behind her and clutched Camila’s arm, pulling her back. “We’re all gonna die!” she cried.

The monster skidded down the hill and roared once more. It snarled and snorted menacingly and advanced towards Louis. Camila secretly hoped that it would rip Louis’s head off. It once again roared in Louis’s face.

“Killing us won’t make us tell you how the crystal works, Bieber,” Louis reminded him. “We will never-”

His device started ringing loudly.

Louis looked down at it and pursed his lips. “Hold on, I think my pizza’s here.”

Justin sighed loudly and put his gun down.

Louis sighed. “Pause game.”

All of her co-workers sighed in relief and rolled their heads back. Camila looked around in shock and confusement. Louis was frozen in place… but everyone broke character! “W-What’s going on?”

“You heard him, he paused the game,” Lauren explained as she let go of her arm and gave her a soft smile. “Cause he’s got a pizza delivery… out there. Lucky bastard. I’d kill for a pizza.” Camila smiled sympathetically and squeezed Lauren’s shoulder.

The monster sighed heavily and sat down. Camila crept up to Louis and began waving her hand in front of his face.

“Watch out, he’ll be back soon,” Normani warned.

“Ah, that’s good,” Justin groaned tiredly. “This launcher is as heavy as shit.” He placed it on the ground and stretched tiredly. “How’re you guys holding up?”

Lauren chuckled and shrugged. “You know, we’re existing…” She turned to the monster and smiled sadly. “How are you doing, Ashley?”

The monster - or _Ashley_ apparently - grunted and shook her head.

“Well, yeah,” Lauren sighed. “We all feel your pain.” She flashed a grin. “But you still look great!”

Dinah came up from behind her. “Her name’s Ashley,” she mumbled.

“Did you lose weight? Cause, _damn,_ girl,” Lauren continued with a giggle.

“She was in marketing,” Dinah continued.

Normani nodded. “Yup, Tomlinson turned her into… that because she wouldn’t play along when he cloned her into here.” She sighed and gestured to Lauren who was leaning up against her, talking to Ashley like they were old friends. “Poor Lauren didn’t take it well when Tomlinson messed her up. Ashley was always… very outspoken.”

“This universe is littered with things like her,” Dinah explained. “Those poor fuckers who stepped out of line.”

The device started whirring again.

“Oop, here comes Captain Dick,” Lauren remarked. She blew a kiss in the direction of the monsterized Ashley. “Good chat!” She dashed over to her previous position of grabbing Camila’s arm and holding her gun up.

Camila shook her off. “Lauren, wait! I wanna see-”

“No time, Camila,” Lauren insisted. “He’s going to be back.” She squeezed her arm reassuringly and pulled her against her. Normani did the same to Dinah. Oh, the classic ‘protect the weaker woman’ crap. Ugh.

“I’m gonna get you… I’m gonna get you…” Justin recited in his deep villain voice.

Lauren exhaled. “Here we go,” she mumbled into Camila’s ear.

“If we die, the secret of the crystal dies with us, Bieber,” Louis threatened as he returned to the game.

Lauren started whimpering and shaking. “Oh my God! We _are_ all gonna die,” she whined. She then started sobbing so fakely that Camila had to roll her eyes. Lauren Jauregui should _never_ be an actress.

Justin laughed cruelly at Lauren’s distress.

“Bieber,” Louis hissed.

“Oh, dear, what is it now, Captain? Final words?”

Louis pivoted suddenly and gasped. “Over there!” He pointed his finger in the direction of the cliffs. “A naked lady!”

 _Jesus fucking Christ._ Camila rolled her eyes again mega-time.

“Really!?” Justin asked excitedly as he turned his head in that direction.

Louis fired his gun at Justin. Justin groaned in pain and fell off the cliff onto the ground. As he screamed and grunted on the impact, Ashley screeched and crawled away.

Normani, Dinah, and Lauren all started to laugh fakely. “Great plan, Captain,” Normani complimented.

“Flawless tactics, Captain,” Lauren agreed as she pulled away from Camila and started walking towards Justin’s body. “You’re the best in the entire fleet!”

Louis walked over to Justin and smirked.

“We’ve fought many battles, haven’t we, Captain?” Justin grunted.

Louis nodded. “Yes, we have.”

“I’ve… been a good obstacle for you, have I not?” he asked weakly.

Louis shrugged his shoulders in response.

Justin coughed and licked his lips slowly. “Then please…” he sighed. “End it.” Camila seemed to catch onto the double meaning. Justin was begging to be let free of the prison they were put in. Camila hoped that Louis would so he could free him. The less people trapped in there, the better.

He held his gun up and pointed it at Justin. Camila watched in anticipation and held her breath. After a few seconds of contemplation, he sighed and pulled his gun away. “Killing in cold blood is against Space Fleet code,” Louis stated. “I wish I could help.” He knelt down and patted his shoulder. “Sorry, bud.” Louis stood back up and looked at his crew. “Take him and the Arachnajax to the brig.”

Dinah, Lauren, and Normani moved to take care of Justin’s weakened body and the cowering monster nearby. Camila stayed still and sighed.

Louis brought his device to his lips. “Hernandez. Transport us aboard.”

 _“Yes, Captain,”_ Ally replied enthusiastically.

“No more…” Justin wailed.

“It’s okay,” Dinah mumbled assuringly.

Back on the ship, they all held their glasses up and were celebrating their victory. Everyone was gathered around Louis and clapping excitedly.

“Hip, hip!” Lauren cheered.

“Hooray!” Everyone shouted.

“Hip, hip!”

“Hooray!”

Louis smiled and grabbed onto Dinah’s waist. He dipped her and then kissed her lips while Dinah forced a genuine smile. Dinah pulled away and then Ariana stepped up. Louis dipped her and then kissed her as well.

“For he’s a jolly good fellow, for he’s a jolly good fellow, for he’s a jolly good fellow!” the crew sang.

Louis kissed Normani next. Not Lauren or Ally though, and Camila understood why for Lauren. Kissing a business partner was probably weird, or maybe he just despised her that much. For Ally, she wasn’t sure what the reason was.

Louis grabbed Camila and tried to kiss her. Camila was quick to resist him and pushed him back. And then she slapped him harshly on the cheek.

“And so say…” Lauren stopped singing when she saw the slap. “Oh, my fuck.”

Camila stumbled backwards toward her co-workers.

Louis held his jaw in bewilderment. His eyebrows were raised and a hint of a smirk was forming on his lips. “That wasn’t very nice,” he remarked.

Louis held his hand up and Camila squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the worst. She felt her whole body tense in fear.

Nothing happened.

“Today I will show you mercy,” he said as he lowered his hand.

“Great mercy-showing, Captain,” Ally blurted out.

“Hernandez,” Normani hissed in warning.

Louis chuckled at his crew. “Tomorrow you should reconsider your… amenability. I may not be feeling so benevolent.” He stared right at her while Camila shook in fear. She felt completely paralyzed.

Finally, Louis said, “exit game.”

The lights changed and he disappeared. Everyone around them sighed in relief.

“Fucking hell,” Dinah moaned.

Ariana sighed. “This was tense. Way too tense for me, and I don’t like it one bit.”

Lauren grimaced and turned to Ariana. “Drink?”

“Please,” Ariana replied. “Get me something with a little kick in it.”

“Poison?”

Ariana shrugged her shoulders. “Sure. More tolerable than Tomlinson.”

Camila exhaled shakily and stood back. Everyone else seemed to have an after game routine, so she decided to let everyone do that.

Ally yawned and crashed into one of the chairs. “So, how was the mission?”

Lauren shrugged. “Wasn’t too bad. Usual standoff storyline. Bieber bitched and begged for his death.” She pressed a button on the wall and the alcohol shelf turned around. “Oh!” She turned around and smiled. “Saw Ashley from marketing.”

Ally let out a soft sigh. “Oh, that’s so sad.”

“Yeah.” Lauren grimaced.

Camila bit her lip. “There’s no way that I am kissing that asshole!”

Normani stood up from her chair and walked to the other side of the bridge. “I’d advise against that, Camila. He’s just going to get more pissed.”

“How do you put up with it!?” Camila asked.

“You get used to it,” Dinah replied. She shrugged and leaned back against the bridge’s wall. “There’s no tongues. If that’s any consolation, there’s never any tongues.”

Ariana chuckled and took a sip from her glass of blue alcohol. “Using tongues is not the Space Fleet way.”

Lauren hummed in agreement and took a sip from her glass.

Dinah snorted. “Not like it can go any further than kissing anyways.”

Camila raised a brow. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“Oh…” Dinah smiled at her mockingly. “You haven’t noticed?”

Lauren cleared her throat. Camila turned her head around.

_Holy fuck._

Lauren’s hands were on the zipper of her outfit. She began pulling down her dress. “What are you doing!?” Camila asked, alarmed. Lauren slipped her arms out of her sleeves and pulled the top part of her outfit down.

“Oh, God, she’s getting naked again, isn’t she?” Ally groaned and stood up. “Time for me to be… anywhere else.” The short girl ran out of the room at lightning speed.

Lauren pulled her bra off and grinned, slapping her breasts. Camila’s jaw dropped in horror. There were no nipples whatsoever. She then began to pull down the rest of her dress until she was in nothing but her underwear.

Camila shook her head. “Lauren, please stop!”

She just shook her head and pulled her underwear down. Lauren had no vagina. No nothing. It was just a whole bunch of skin in her crotch area.

“Holy fuck, what the fuck?”

“There’s no genitals in Space Fleet,” Lauren spat. “This is a wholesome universe, Camila.” She turned around and smiled. Camila choked on her breath. Okay, Louis apparently kept asses because _holy shit._ Lauren had a nice ass.

“Oh, we still have our butts, which is nice. Isn’t it, Camila?” Lauren purred with a wink.

“Is it safe for me to come in there?” Ally called from outside.

Ariana shook her head. “No. Lauren is trying to seduce Camila with her lack of genitalia.” She looked over at Camila, who indeed looked like she was going to be sick. “I don’t think it’s working.”

“Lauren, put your fucking clothes on. We can’t exile the shortstack cause you’re a deprived, horny motherfucker,” Dinah snapped.

“What if I just hide behind the bar?” Lauren shouted as she walked over in that direction in all her naked glory. “Nah, my ass is too big. Sorry, Allyson!”

Ally groaned as she returned to the bridge. “As long as my innocence remains intact,” she mumbled. She averted her gaze from Lauren and moved over to Camila. “But yeah, he must have modified our code so we don’t have any vaginas… or nipples.”

“We’re all the same. No nips, no pussy…” Dinah trailed off. “Take a look down there if you don’t believe me.”

Lauren nodded and chuckled. “We’ve tried grinding our mounds together out of sheer boredom and hopes to feel something.” She leaned over and started slapping her mound furiously. For some sick, twisted reason, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Lauren slapping her crotch area. She didn’t even feel aroused by it. It was like she _couldn’t_ feel aroused by it whatsoever. “No sensation at all! It fucking blows. I’m surrounded by hot chicks and I can’t even get off,” she complained.

Dinah rolled her eyes at Lauren’s brash comments. “Can’t even shit.” She walked up towards the bar area and sighed. “Can’t even have the basic fucking pleasure of pushing out a shit.”

“I think I’m the least affected by this,” Ally said. Camila looked at her in confusion. “I’m aromantic and asexual, so yeah, more annoyed that I can’t poop or anything.”

“You’re so pure, Ally,” Normani scoffed.

Camila looked down her skirt to see if they were lying. Nope. Camila Cabello had no pussy whatsoever.

“Oh, and can you please put your clothes back on, Lauren?” Ally called shrilly.

Lauren nodded. “Fine.” She began to slip her outfit back on. “But Camila, if you ever want to test out your lack of arousal, I’d be happy to be your-”

Camila blushed furiously while Dinah flipped her off. “Shut up, Jauregui!” Dinah scolded her.

Ariana sighed sadly. “I miss taking a shit.”

Camila’s jaw clenched. “You can take away my face for a few seconds. Make me play a fucking space bitch. Hell, you can even force me to kiss some nasty guy’s lips. But stealing my pussy is a red fucking line.” She placed her hands on her hips and bared her teeth. “We are gonna get this bastard!”

“No,” Lauren said immediately.

“Yeah,” Camila hissed.

Lauren shook her head. “We’ve tried a million times, Camila.” She took another sip from her glass. “Like I’ve said before, he’s an asshole god. It’s no use.”

Camila’s jaw clenched. “He’s smart, but he’s not a god. He’s a coder!” She pointed at Lauren. “He _is_ fallible.” Her gaze moved to Ally, who was watching her intently. “Ally, what was that thing in his hand? That scanner thing?”

“His omnicoder?” Ally asked for clarification. Camila nodded. “That’s his primary communications device.”

“Didn’t you say he kept his version of the game offline?” Camila pursed her lips. “But… the omnicoder made contact with the real world when the pizza came, so it’s gotta be connected to his home system!”

“The omnicoder is gone,” Dinah pointed out.

Ally frowned. “It loads when he loads, and it goes when he goes. That’s the only one in existence.”

“No!” Camila refused to believe that there wasn’t a way to get it. She moved over to one of the consoles and began typing away. “There’s gotta be a way to hack it,” she mumbled.

Ally came up next to her and sighed. “Camila… you won’t. You can’t hack it.” She placed her hand on Camila’s back and began rubbing it. “I’ve tried.”

“Well, I haven’t,” Camila snapped and glared at her.

Ally bit her lip and pulled her hand away. “Okay… do what you must.” Camila returned to the computer and continued working, adding tons of variables and numbers to the database.

While Camila went to work, the rest of her co-workers lounged around and drank heavily. The only people that bothered to interact with her were Dinah, Ally, and Lauren. Dinah would occasionally provide her with a refill of her vodka and give her words of encouragement. Ally would remove herself from the conversation to take a seat next to Camila and look over the work she’d already done. Lauren didn’t talk to her, she just stood over her shoulder and watched her, which kind of threw her off her game.

Hours later, Camila finally hit gold. “Bingo,” she gasped as the white loading screen of _Infinity_ appeared on the window of the front of the ship. The conversation stopped and her five co-workers looked at the projected image.

“Oh, that’s good,” Ally breathed out in realization as she came up next to Camila.

The group crowded around her. “Yep.”

“This is part of _Infinity_ ’s front end,” Camila said. “You can invite a friend with a custom message.”

“A message?” Dinah asked.

Camila nodded. “Mhm, only one. One hundred forty characters maximum.”

“So, who are you going to contact?” Normani asked.

Camila turned around and grinned. “I know just the girl.”

* * *

_“Thirteenth floor. Welcome to Callister.”_

Day four and Camila was still going strong. She sent Ariana a wave and opened the gate to the office with her pass.

Normani was already by the machine making coffees. She looked up and smiled at Camila. “Morning, Mila.”

“Hi, Mani!” Camila greeted as she slid into the space next to Normani. “How’re you doing?”

“Good, good,” she replied. “A little tired. I was up late watching some old detective shows.”

Camila chuckled in response. “That sounds like fun. I usually spend my nights binge watching TV shows too. You feel kind of accomplished once you finish everything, yeah?” Normani nodded and handed her a coffee from the tray. “Oh, thanks!”

Normani smiled and ruffled Camila’s hair. “Free coffee for my favorite coder. It was originally for Bieber.”

“Normani! Why am I the second choice?” Camila huffed.

She chuckled. “I’m kidding. I made it just for you. Extra sugar and milk, just how you like it.”

Camila rolled her eyes playfully, took her coffee, and headed off into the office area. She looked around the room. Ally was typing away at her computer while humming a Carrie Underwood song a little too loudly.

Dinah was already sitting on her desk waiting for her. She had her ear piece in so Camila just put her cup down and let Dinah finish her conversation.

“Sorry, what? Our social media campaign is considered too controversial? I don’t think it’s possible to make a video game advertisement too controversial,” Dinah shouted into her ear piece. “Ugh, you know what? I’ll call you later. You better fix this, Horan.” She pulled it out of her ear and groaned. “God, sometimes I hate my department,” she groaned.

Camila laughed. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Ad’s controversial,” Dinah spat. “Horan accidentally made one of the spaceships in the banner look like a dick. Now we’re all under fire for subliminal messages.”

She smiled softly. “I’m guessing with the delayed update, it doesn’t look good.”

“Merry Christmas, we’re all slobs,” Dinah groaned.

“Hey, everyone!” Lauren shouted as she swung open the door to her office. “Dicks out for _Infinity_ , am I right!?”

Camila scoffed and Dinah rolled her eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Jauregui. At least she isn’t pissed about it.” Both of them cringed and glanced away as Lauren started making her way towards them. “Still, I’m not too thrilled about her making outdated jokes.”

“Morning, Hansen,” Lauren greeted, pulling up a chair from the desk behind Camila. She grinned at Camila. “Morning, Camila.”

Camila smiled bashfully. “Uh, hi.”

“I really hope you won’t be too busy today,” Lauren said as she took a seat in the chair and smiled. “I think you owe me a lunch.”

“Four days and she’s still trying to get in your pants,” Dinah mumbled into Camila’s ear. “She must really like you.” Her cheeks flushed as she shot her co-worker a glare. Hooking up with her boss, no matter how hot she was, was totally against the rules. Camila refused to get herself in trouble.

“Yeah, I can do lunch today!” Lauren’s grin seemed to grow impossibly larger. “The sandwich you got me two days ago was really good,” Camila gushed. “Thanks again for that.”

Lauren shrugged. “It was the least I could do since you’re so busy.”

“Just making sure your company is still successful,” Camila added on.

She shook her head. “I really don’t like to overwork my employees. All that brain power could be used for _other_ things.”

Dinah cleared her throat awkwardly. “Right, I should go-”

She was interrupted by a notification popping up on Camila’s phone. Camila raised a brow and looked at it. It was an invite request to _Infinity_ from Louis with a message attached to it.

The message read _“HELP! MANY PEOPLE TRAPPED INSIDE INFINITY ON TOMLINSON’S COMPUTER. CONTACT CYBER POLICE.”_

“That’s weird,” Camila noted. Dinah peered over her shoulder. “I just got an invite request from Louis…?”

“Ew,” Dinah snarled and got up. “I’m leaving now. See ya, Mila.”

Lauren shrugged and pursed her lips. “That’s strange. Go ask him about it? I don’t know why he would invite you to an _Infinity_ game.” Camila noticed that Lauren’s tone was laced with jealousy and confusion. Why, however, she was completely unsure about.

Camila nodded and glanced towards the direction of the staff lounge. Speak of the devil, there came Louis. “Yeah, I will.”

She stood up and strode over to Louis with determination. “Um, Mr. Tomlinson?” she asked tentatively.

“Hi,” he said slowly.

“Can I ask you something?” She showed her phone to Louis and frowned. “Did you just send me an _Infinity_ invite?”

Louis scrunched his nose and shook his head. “Huh? No.”

“It had a message attached,” Camila said. “Something about people being trapped in a game.”

She noticed that Louis had a brief panicked expression, but he composed himself quickly. “Ah, it’s probably a spambot. The firewall is sometimes faulty.” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Okay,” Camila sighed in relief.

Louis cleared his throat. “You… ah, didn’t happen to open the link, did you?”

Camila laughed. “Ha, no! Why would I? I’m a coder. I know not to trust shady shit.”

He let out a sigh of relief and his shoulders visibly relaxed. “Oh, good…” He gave her a small smile. “I suggest you update your security software. Maybe that’ll fix it.”

Camila nodded eagerly and grinned. “Of course! Thanks, Louis.” He sent her a wave and headed off in the direction of his office. She licked her lips and made her way back to her desk where Lauren was waiting for her and watching her with a piercing stare. Camila just beamed at her and took a seat across from her to discuss their lunch plans.

* * *

“Oh, yes,” Lauren moaned. “That’s the stuff right there.”

Camila scowled and rolled her eyes as Lauren banged her head on the side of the computer controls.

“Can you please…” Normani hissed, “cut that shit out?”

Lauren banged her head against the console again. “Mmm,” she sighed. She banged her head against it again. “I’m trying to make it like a hobby.” Lauren grunted loudly as she threw her head down once again. She inhaled sharply and forced her head down with a faster speed. “Ohh, that’s good,” she sighed once more.

The systems started to whirr and the lights began to flicker.

Dinah sat up quickly from her lounging position. “This is too early! He’s only been at work for a few hours,” she noted.

As the machines began to buzz, a grin formed on Camila’s lips. _Holy shit, it worked!_ She got in. Camila was able to get ahold of her real self. “She got the message!” she squealed. Her co-workers rushed to their positions, ignoring Camila. “I did. I-I got the message,” she stuttered, pointing at herself. “That’s me! Me or the cops!” Camila barreled towards the door and sighed happily. “We’re getting out of here!”

The doors slid open and revealed an angry Louis Tomlinson. Camila gasped and fell back against the wall. _Fuck._ She failed. She failed all of them.

Louis stepped into the room quietly. No one made a move. Everyone was either staring at their controls or at the ground. Camila exhaled heavily. He walked towards the front of the ship and stared out the window, folding his hands behind his back.

“What _is_ Space Fleet?” he asked.

Camila bit down harshly on her lip.

“I’ll tell you what it is,” Louis continued. “It is a belief system found on the very best of human nature.” He paused. “It is a goal for us to strive towards… for the betterment of the universe, for the betterment of life itself.”

He inhaled sharply and turned around. “And you _assholes_ are _fucking_ it up!” he shouted.

“I did it!” Camila blurted out, running forward. “I did it!” She heard Lauren exhale heavily behind her. Camila held her hands up. “I sent the message. It was me,” she continued. She gestured to all of her other co-workers. “No one else was involved, I swear… please, don’t hurt them.

“I tried the carrot. Now meet the stick,” Louis seethed.

“No, no!” Camila shook her head. “This is going to make you happy, Tomlinson, cause you’re sick.” Louis rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “You need help.”

Louis narrowed his eyes and held his hand up. Camila’s eyes squeezed shut. That was it, she fucked it up. She’d spend the rest of her days like an animal similar to Ashley from marketing. Camila whimpered and flinched.

“No, don’t, don’t!” Dinah screamed. Camila’s eyes shot open. The tall blonde ran from her station and stood in front of her. Dinah held her arms out to block Camila from being viewed by Louis.

 _Dinah, no!_ Camila thought.

“Captain,” Dinah spoke uneasily. “Captain, please… she’s new. She’s new, confused, and scared. Okay? We were all like that. She’ll behave now,” she pleaded. “We’ll _all_ behave. And I’m so sorry that things had to go like this, but…” Dinah’s voice began to falter and her breath hitched. “Give her another chance. Let her off this once… please.”

Louis seemed to consider her words. Camila held her breath in anticipation. Oh, God, she was screwed, wasn’t she?

“Fine,” he relented and lowered his hand.

Camila and Dinah both sighed in relief. Dinah turned around and faced her, grasping her shoulders. “Okay…” she whispered. “We’re alright now, we’re-” Camila gaze moved to Louis. He had his hand up again.

“No, Tomlinson, no, no, no!” Camila screamed.

The sound of cracking was heard and Dinah arched her back and howled in pain. Camila fell backwards and continued screaming. She scooted up against the wall next to Normani and Ally who were also retreating. “No, no, no!”

Her friend, her _savior_ , fell to the floor and screamed in agony. Red and purple legs began to emerge from her back. The screams started turning into inhuman grunts. Camila was _terrified._

Dinah thrashed and cried and then started spewing mucus from an open mouth. Her cries turned into roaring.

More cracking, more agonized roars as Dinah’s beautiful face turned to one that had tons of tentacles and beady, yellow eyes.

Dinah sat up as her fully transformed self and roared again. She looked around and growled.

“Oh, God,” Camila cried. “I’m-”

“You know what makes me happy?” Louis grinned. “The look on your face right now.”

Camila whimpered as tears began to well up in her eyes. She held her hand up to her mouth and started sobbing quietly. _I’m so sorry Dinah._

“Hernandez, Jauregui, Grande, take this _thing_ to the brig with Bieber,” Louis ordered. The three of them moved to lead the creature out of the bridge. “Hamilton, find a barren planet we can dump her on.” Normani nodded and began typing away at the controls. Camila cried into her hands, not noticing Louis take a menacing step towards her. “And you, Cabello, can just stay here and think about your attitude.” He smirked at her while another tear streamed down her cheek. “Exit game.”

The power shut off and Louis disappeared.

Camila gasped and cried. “Oh, fuck… fuck, fuck fuck,” she cursed.

Normani turned around in her chair. “I tried to warn you,” she said slowly. Camila saw her bite down on her lip and sniffle. “I never got to tell her how I felt.”

“Normani…” Camila started to say.

Her co-worker stood up and sighed. “Save it, Camila.” She marched off and out of the bridge. Once the door closed, Camila heard Normani break down into a sob.

_This is all my fault. All my fucking fault._

* * *

Camila didn’t even want to face the group. She exiled herself out of the bridge and sat at the window that overlooked space. She was so physically tired that she couldn’t cry anymore. Camila shook and whimpered. Dinah was a monster and it was all her fault. She should’ve kept her mouth shut and dealt with it.

Why did she always have to play hero?

She wiped some of her tears from her eyes and sniffled.

Something from outside the ship rumbled. Camila chewed on her lower lip and tilted her head so she could look out into space. A wormhole was beginning to form. A huge bright one. The small control panel at the end of the hallway blurred and showed an incoming data notification. Camila leaned forward to get a closer look in space.

The wormhole was the update patch. The Christmas update patch that _she_ was working on.

“Oh, gosh,” Camila whispered. She exhaled softly and an idea popped into her head. The update patch. They could _use_ it. That was the only way to get online! Camila grinned. There was hope.

Camila broke into a run and burst into the bridge. Ally, Normani, Ariana, and Lauren all looked at her expectantly. “Guys! The wormhole!”

She ran over to Normani’s station and pointed at the screen. “Right there.” Camila pointed at the big dot on the scanner.

Normani snorted and moved to take a look at what she was talking about. “So, what? It’s just a wormhole,” she grumbled. “It can’t kill us. Nothing can.”

Camila shook her head. “No, Mani, you don’t get it. It’s not just any wormhole.” Ally walked up and stood behind Camila and Normani, clearly interested in the conversation. “That is the Christmas update patch pre-installing itself.” She gestured wildly to try and explain her point. “The wormhole is how the game is expressing the uplink.”

“So?” Normani asked.

“So, Tomlinson’s custom build is still connected to the internet,” Ally clarified.

Camila nodded enthusiastically. “Somehow, it is.”

“If this is another one of your risky plans, just stop before someone else gets turned into a monster,” Lauren snapped from the wall she was leaning on. “I’ve had enough of your revolutionary bullshit, Camila. It’s gotten us nowhere.”

Camila frowned. “No, Lauren! This can work.”

“We can’t get all-in access from the ship,” Ally pointed out. “Permissions are crippled. We can’t do anything.”

“But…” Camila lifted a finger up and smirked. “What if we fly into the wormhole?”

Normani scoffed. “Wait, you mean, on purpose?”

“We’d hit the system’s firewall,” Ally said, seemingly catching onto what Camila was saying. “Our rogue code would be deleted.”

“Deleted… a-as in-” Normani stammered.

“As in die,” Ariana finished for her with narrowed eyes.

Ally shrugged her shoulders. “Well, it’s not _really_ dying. It’s more of how you look at it. Depending on your beliefs and morals, but-”

Camila stopped Ally from her rambling by holding her hand up. “We would cease to exist, regardless of how you look at it.” Her lips curved into a hopeful smile. “But we’d be free…” She looked around the room at everyone’s faces. Normani looked determined, Ally looked perplexed, Ariana looked contemplative, and Lauren looked grim. “We’d be free,” Camila repeated.

Ally had to burst everyone’s bubble then with her words, “this is completely hypothetical though.” She ran a hand through her curly hair. “We have no means of getting to the wormhole at all.”

“Yeah,” Normani agreed. “There’s no way to pilot the damn thing without Tomlinson here, and he’d stop us like that…” She snapped her fingers.

“What if he’s logged in but on pause?” Camila questioned. “Like when his pizza came, he was frozen in place.”

Ally nodded. “In that scenario, flying would be possible. But the wormhole’s like _really_ far. We’d never reach it before he got back.”

“Unless we stalled him for a longer time,” Camila suggested.

Ariana chuckled dryly. “And how do we do that? We have no access to the outside world.”

Camila ran her hands through her hair in frustration. _Think, Camila, think!_ “The omnicoder! We can make a phone call, right?”

“Theoretically, we could, but-”

“If we could get the real me on the phone,” Camila interrupted Ally. “I, uh…” Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. Her reputation as a good girl was about to be ruined. “I may have some leverage.”

“Leverage,” Normani repeated incredulously. “On yourself?” Camila nodded slowly. Normani leaned back in her chair. “Like what?”

“My PhotoCloud account,” Camila mumbled. “I know the password obviously. There are some pretty… interesting images that I should have deleted a while ago, but I didn’t.”

Lauren raised a brow. “Interesting? What, did you commit a murder and take pictures of the whole thing like that one girl and her boyfriend did?”

“Oh, that was so sad,” Ally said meekly. “That poor little girl.”

Camila shook her head and crossed her arms. “Uh, no, not like that all. They’re a little…” Lauren’s piercing gaze was making her very nervous. “Let’s just say I wouldn’t want you to see it in the real world.”

Lauren smirked and looked down. Normani rolled her eyes and turned to face Camila. “So, we’re trying to blackmail you.”

“Yes,” Camila answered. She smiled nervously. “I would do _whatever_ it takes to make sure those photos don’t get out.”

“Must be _very_ pretty pictures,” Ariana purred with a wink.

Lauren scowled at her. “Keep it in your mini-skirt, Grande.”

“Guys!” Camila hissed. She pursed her lips and sighed. “If this is going to work, we all have to be in on it.” She exhaled shakily and glanced around at her co-workers, hoping that one of them visibly looked on board with her plan. No one did. “Okay?”

Lauren and Normani both sighed. One was a sigh of hesitance while one was a sigh of annoyance, she couldn’t figure out who emitted what.

“Flying into certain death in a wormhole is intimidating,” Normani spoke at last. “But it beats another ten thousand years with Captain Ass. And after what he did to Dinah, I’m in.”

Camila smiled softly. “Okay, great.” She turned to Ally expectantly.

Ally barely nodded. “Me too.”

Camila’s smile grew.

Ariana raised her hand up lazily. “Also me.”

Camila’s face lit up and she turned to Lauren. She was the only one who hadn’t said anything.

Lauren smiled grimly and began fist pumping. “Well, I am…” She stepped away from the wall she was leaning on and shook her head. “Out.”

“What!?” Camila gasped.

“Tomlinson’s won,” Lauren sighed and made her way to the bar area. “He’s always fucking won.” She shrugged and began rummaging through the drinks. “We just have to deal with it, because we don’t have a chance.” Camila’s eyes narrowed as Lauren pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid.

Camila placed her hand on her hips. “We do,” she insisted.

Lauren raised a brow and walked towards her. “Hm?”

“We fly into the wormhole and we are extinct!” Camila yelled. Lauren silently scoffed a she took a sip from her bottle. “We are gone! We are rid of his shit!”

“Sounds peachy,” Lauren quipped.

Camila’s jaw clenched. She glared at Lauren and pointed at her. “What is with you? Don’t you want to fight back? Why won’t you fight back?” she screamed. “Are you a fucking coward, Lauren? Seriously, what-”

“Mikey,” Lauren answered darkly.

Camila huffed in disbelief. “Who is Mikey?”

“My son.”

_Hold up, Lauren’s got a son. What?_

“An accident, but the best fucking accident of my life. He scared away my asshole boyfriend before he was even born,” Lauren explained. “I got pregnant at twenty years old, and I was so scared, but I pulled through. My parents really helped me out. They supported me financially and babysat for him while I went to classes.” She took another sip from her bottle. “Being a single parent with a dream of being an entrepreneur wasn’t easy. But when I met Louis at a convention when I was twenty-five, together we created Callister and I didn’t have to worry about not having enough money for my son. As CEO, I could take him to work if I wanted to.”

Camila smiled sympathetically. This was a side to Lauren that she never knew. Poor girl, she must’ve had such a rough time as a single mother.

“My son is six years old, or at least he was when I woke up in here,” Lauren continued with a grimace. “In the early days of the _USS Callister,_ it was just me and Tomlinson. I was his pet project, his punching bag, his anger outlet.” She chuckled darkly and sighed. “He tried everything to break me. And I withstood it all because I just thought there was a chance I could get out and see my boy again. In a way, I was right. I did get to see him again. Just not the real him.”

Camila frowned. “Do you want to sit down, Lauren? This sounds pretty intense-”

“No.” Lauren shook her head. “I need to get this off my chest.”

Camila bit her lip and gestured for her to continue.

“Tomlinson told me what happened. Back on the outside, the real me, uh… brought Mikey to work one day and showed him around. He would’ve loved seeing all those computers, always a huge fan of technology, even in preschool. Mikey lived for that kind of stuff,” Lauren sighed. “And… Mikey had a lollipop that day. That was all Tomlinson needed.”

Lauren let out a shaky breath and sniffled. “He copied him in here. It was Mikey alright. He was alike in every way. Everyone says he looks just like me… just a little tanner though.” And then Lauren smiled, she smiled in a way that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You wanna know what that fucker did to him? He took Mikey and he threw him out of the airlock.” Her lip quivered and she brought her hand up to start wiping at her eyes. “Right out into space.”

Camila gasped quietly.

“H-He made me watch,” Lauren stuttered, clearly crying now. Camila wanted to run over and hug her, but she couldn’t move. Her feet felt cemented into the floor.

“Have you ever seen an unsuited body compress in space?” Lauren asked shakily. Camila shook her head. “They freeze… a-and crack like a porcelain doll.” She downed the whole bottle of alcohol. “I take my hat off to Tomlinson,” she breathed out. “The detail in this place is exceptional. _Too_ realistic.” Camila moved to take a step towards her. “And he said he’d do it again, and again, cause he’s still got Mikey’s DNA. He’s got _all_ of our DNA. He keeps it in his bedroom in a fucking mini fridge by his desk.”

Lauren let herself cry fully. Tears poured down her hot cheeks as she shook furiously. Camila couldn’t herself anymore and ran to hug her. She wrapped her arms firmly around Lauren and rubbed her back. She stiffened in Camila’s hold, but made no move to leave it. “So, I-I have to stay in line, because even if we die in here, he can bring us back. He can bring back M-Mikey whenever he wants,” she muttered into Camila’s ear. “And God knows how he’d take it out on him.”

“Lauren…” Camila mumbled.

“I have no choice,” Lauren cried. “He’ll hurt the only thing that matters most to me.”

She sucked her breath in and held Lauren as she cried. Camila felt anger build up inside her. How dare someone cruelly murder a six-year-old? A child, for God’s sake! Louis Tomlinson was an evil man that deserved to burn in hell.

“Lauren,” she said with bared teeth. “We are gonna get that fucking lollipop.”

Lauren sighed and shook her head.

“But you gotta believe me,” Camila continued. She pulled back so she was looking right Lauren. Her eyes were red from her tears and she was biting down on her lip. Camila brought her hand up to Lauren’s cheek and cupped it. “Can you do that?”

Lauren whimpered in response.

“Please, Lauren, please…”

Her boss pulled her back against her and returned her embrace, squeezing her tightly. Camila noticed her shoulders relax and her breathing slow. Lauren buried her head in Camila’s neck and nodded.

That was all Camila needed to understand how important this was to her. She would save her; she would save them all, even if it killed her.

* * *

Louis Tomlinson swaggered in in all his glory, hours or maybe a day later- Camila couldn’t tell. He smiled and looked right at Camila, who was sitting in her designated spot as a science officer.

“Good to see you in your position, Cabello,” he remarked.

Camila turned around and grinned so widely she felt like her cheeks were going to be ripped off. “Oh, Captain!” she said with glee. “You’ve come at just the right time.”

Louis raised a brow, amused by her change in demeanor since the previous day’s events. “Have I?”

“Yes, Captain.” Camila nodded and turned back to her computer. “I’m picking up a distress signal from the surface of Skillane IV.” She began typing away, or more accurately, pressing a few random buttons. “Looks like a crashed shuttle.”

She heard Louis approach her from behind and look at her scanner to make sure she wasn’t lying. Camila glanced up at him. “What should we do?”

Louis rubbed the stubble on his chin in thought. “Hm…” he thought out loud. “Space Fleet never turns its back on those who need our help.” Camila smiled widely at his positive response. He turned to look at Ally. “Hernandez, set a course for Skillane IV.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” Ally said as she began typing away.

“We’ll send a search party,” Louis declared. “Hamilton, Grande-”

Camila stood up and cleared her throat. “Actually, Captain, I was hoping you could take me alone?” She walked around the railing and stepped down towards where Louis was standing. “As science officer, I need to learn the ropes, and I could use your close attention.” She batted her eyelashes innocently as she stopped in front of Louis.

Louis nodded. “Good thinking, Lieutenant Cabello.” Camila’s eyebrows perked upwards briefly as she smirked. He bit his lip and turned to walk away. _Men. So gullible._

Louis and Camila marched over to the area with white dots.

“Hernandez, commence transport,” he ordered.

“Aye, Captain,” Ally responded as she pressed a few more buttons.

Camila and Louis disappeared and then materialized on a rocky planet with purple soil. Louis held his omnicoder up and scanned the area. Camila forced herself to keep her cheesy, excitable grin on her face as he did his work.

“Atmosphere’s fine,” Louis remarked.

Her gaze never left the omnicoder as he turned to face an area with a large lake. A crashed shuttle was smoking in a nearby mountain. “Over there.” Louis pointed at the shuttle and started walking in that direction. Camila followed him with a little happy hop to her step. “From here, the shuttle looks to be deserted. We’ll scout the area and check for any life forms. Tomlinson out.”

Camila stopped walking and started to pretend to adjust her hair.

Louis turned around and glanced at her. “Cabello, we should head out this way.”

Camila moved to take off her top with a sly grin.

“Cabello…?”

“It’s kind of hot here, don’t you think?” she purred as she slipped the rest of her outfit off.

“Oh my God…” Louis groaned and looked away. “What are you _doing,_ Cabello?”

She sighed excitedly as she pulled her boots off. “Ohh, the water looks so inviting, doesn’t it?” Her voice sounded so fake and forced. Camila felt like she was some sort of actress for porn.

Louis narrowed his eyes and frowned at her. “What are you… talking about? No, it doesn’t.”

Camila giggled and skipped towards the lake. “Come on, Louis. Loosen up!” She sighed happily as she waded into the water and shuddered. “Ohhh, it’s _so_ nice.” The cool water actually felt good on her skin. Camila continued walking further into the water. “This alien lake is perfect!”

“Swimming is a leisure activity,” Louis said hesitantly. “We’re on Space Fleet duty.”

“You know what?” Camila licked her lips. “We could just say that I started drowning and _you_ had to come in and rescue me,” she suggested, winking at him. “Does that work?” She giggled and beckoned him towards the water. “C’mon, c’mon…”

Louis laughed nervously. “I… Cabello…”

“Come on!”

“Cabello…”

Camila pouted in the cutest way that she could. “Come on in, my _big_ captain.”

Louis blushed at her words. She grinned, realizing that she may be getting to him. “Okay,” he relented and began taking his clothes off.

She chuckled and swam further out in the water. “Hurry up! You’re taking forever.” Louis finally discarded the rest of his clothes. He placed his omnicoder on top of his clothes and smiled.

“Alright, here I come!”

* * *

Lauren was biting her nails nervously as she listened to Louis and Camila’s conversation. A part of her was a little disgusted by the way she was flirting with him, and a little jealous, to be honest. But she knew the truth, Camila didn’t like Louis at all. Lauren did kind of wish she was down there swimming with her though. Genitals or not, she’d look hot half-naked.

The omnicoder appeared behind them and Ally sighed in relief. She ran over and picked it up from the ground before running towards the computer.

“Alright, now we gotta patch it in,” Ally said. She placed the device in a slot large enough for the device and took a seat in front of the controls.

She pressed a few buttons and then the PhotoCloud account login screen appeared in front of them. “It worked. I’m in.” Ally typed in ‘Camila Cabello’ into the name portion of the login. “Now let’s get to the pictures.”

“Ally, do you remember that password?” Normani asked as she took a seat in one of the orange chairs.

“Uppercase Y998, lowercase gb7, uppercase TY ampersand 4,” Ally recited at lightning speed. She grinned as Normani chuckled. “Secure choice.”

Bunches of images appeared on the screen. Lots of them showed Camila with her friends and family or at parties. None of them seemed very… _interesting._

Ally groaned. “Darn. There’s gotta be thousands of these.” She clicked on one of them and began scrolling through them.

They were all pictures of her in some landscape. Iceland, maybe? Lauren noticed that Camila was very photogenic. Or Lauren just found her attractive, most likely that.

Ariana scoffed. “She’s boring.”

They then reached a few pictures of her in bed. A few of them were innocent, just her posing in lingerie. But as they progressed, they started getting more provocative. Some of them were of her showing off her ass. Others were just pictures of her bra-clad chest.

Lauren nearly fell over when the next one had her covering her naked breast, but the nipple was barely poking out.

“My… eyes…” Ally whimpered.

Normani’s jaw dropped. “Goddamn.”

“Uh…” Ariana bit her lip. “She has a gymnastic physique?”

Lauren blushed furiously as they all looked at her to comment. “N-Nice bedding. She has nice bedding…”

The next one showed Camila fully naked with her hand between her thighs. Ally gasped and turned around to cover her eyes.

Her own jaw dropped. “Holy shit…” Lauren moaned. “My body so badly wants to be horny, but it can’t. Fuck, she is _so_ hot.”

“Lauren,” Normani hissed. “She is technically your employee!”

Lauren shrugged her shoulders. “I know, but, fuck, look at her!” She crossed her arms over her chest. “She’s a living, breathing Aphrodite.”

“Um, Lauren?” Ally asked timidly. “D-Do I have to keep scrolling?”

She shook her head. “No. Any of the last nine would do.”

Ally groaned and got to work on sending those pictures.

* * *

Camila yawned tiredly as she finished her last line of code. The Christmas update was nearly complete, she just had to make a few more adjustments. It wasn’t an ideal way to spend Christmas Eve, but it was better than hanging out with her dumb friends from high school.

She was interrupted when a round object hit her on the head. “Ow!”

The culprit turned out to be Dinah and she smirked as she picked up the apple that she used to hit her and sat on her desk. “Thanks,” she said sarcastically.

“Always a pleasure to bother my friends,” Dinah laughed.

Camila pulled her earbuds out and turned to face Dinah. “Are you heading out for the night?”

“Yes,” Dinah answered like it was obvious. “Because it’s Christmas Eve and we’ve got ten days off of work to recover from it.” She brushed some of her blonde hair to the side. “The whole Hansen family’s getting together and my cousins are huge _Infinity_ geeks.”

“Ohhh.” Camila clicked her tongue.

Dinah flicked her forehead. “Go home, Mila.” She slid off the desk and strutted towards the exit.

“I will!” Camila protested. “I just have to finish this up-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Merry Christmas, loser,” Dinah shouted.

Camila laughed softly and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Merry Christmas.” She cleared her throat and got back to work.

Her phone vibrated suddenly.

Camila checked her messages. It was a text from an unknown number. Her lips parted slightly as she saw what it was.

 **[6:41PM] UNKNOWN:** REMEMBER THAT WEEKEND IN VEGAS? [image attached]

She gasped in horror. “Oh my God,” she whispered in shock. That was _her_ in a compromising pose and underwear. Camila swore that she would delete those pictures, but forgot to. She _really_ wished she did.

Another image came through.

“Austin, you _fucking_ asshole,” Camila seethed as she ran her hand through her hair frustratedly. The only boy she ever dated was a total dickwad, no big surprise. But, _why!?_

The phone vibrated again.

 **[6:41PM] UNKNOWN:** PS - THIS ISN’T AUSTIN [image attached]

Her eyes widened in fear. A hacker.

Camila’s phone vibrated again. The unknown number was calling her. She swallowed nervously and glanced around the room.

She checked to make sure her earpiece was still working and answered the call.

 _“Camila Cabello, we’ve hacked your PhotoCloud account and have control of the entire contents of your photo gallery,”_ a robotic voice said. Its voice kept changing pitch and tone, switching from a human female to a high-pitched robot. 

“Who is this?” Camila chewed on her lower lip. “W-What do you want?”

_“What we want for you to do is exactly as instructed or your entire gallery will be shared to your friends and family… and PornHub.”_

Camila’s lip quivered and she nodded slowly. “Okay, okay… I’ll do what you want. Anything.”

_“Then listen carefully. Stand up and get your coat.”_

Camila stood up quickly and slipped her coat on. She glanced around the room to see if anyone was watching her. Nope, the only other person that she saw was Ally, and she was still hard at work.

_“Follow our instructions, got it?”_

She grimaced and nodded. Camila strode to the exit of the building, not even saying goodbye to Ariana as she passed her. She climbed into her car and then started it. “Okay, what do I do?”

 _“Go to Tomlinson’s flat and climb up to the west window. When you get there, order a pizza for his address. Wait. When he gets up, sneak into his apartment and grab everything in his mini fridge near his computer desk. Make_ sure _to get the lollipop. Replace his disk with a dud.”_

“Okay, okay, I can do that,” Camila rushed out as she pulled out of the parking garage of the building.

The drive to Tomlinson’s flat only took seven minutes. Camila held her breath. The hacker on the phone insisted that she stay on the line so there wouldn’t be any “funny business”. Camila finally pulled into the parking lot in front of some modern looking condos.

She ran up the stairs and pulled her sweatshirt’s hood over her head to make herself look less conspicuous. Although, she was pretty sure she still looked very shady. Only twenty-five and she was willingly robbing a house.

Camila crouched near the window and saw Louis in his chair with his head back, clearly playing _Infinity._ She took a deep breath and adjusted her ear piece. “I’m in position.”

_“We’re gonna hang up now. Be sure to complete the rest of your mission.”_

“I-I will.”

_“You better.”_

The line went dead. Camila pulled her phone out and took a deep breath. “This is fucking crazy,” she whispered as she dialed the number of a pizza place.

Someone luckily answered right away. _“Fenzi’s.”_

“Hi, I’d like to order a pizza,” she said quietly.

_“Sure. What do you want?”_

* * *

Back on Skillane IV, Camila giggled childishly as she swam near Louis. He looked at her in amusement and Camila almost saw him smile. _Ew, oh my God._

“Where are we going?” Louis inquired.

“Oh, Louis,” Camila laughed. “We’re just swimming! Isn’t it nice?”

Louis nodded hesitantly. “Uh… yeah, it is.” They both laughed softly. Camila sighed and began treading in the water.

“We should get back,” he suggested.

Camila silently cursed. The omnicoder hadn’t been returned to Louis’s clothes. She bit her lip and tried to think of a plan.

She suddenly gasped and flailed. “Help!” Louis looked at her strangely. “I think something grabbed me,” she gasped. Camila squirmed and writhed to try to make herself to look convincing. He made his way towards her and she shook her head. “Wait, no, false alarm. I think I was just imagining things.” She chuckled nervously.

He shrugged and moved to head back towards shore. Camila gritted her teeth and then splashed him.

Louis stopped and turned around in surprise. Camila tensed as her eyes widened. She braced herself for the worst.

But then, he laughed. “That’s funny,” he noted. “That’s very funny.”

Camila grinned. “Yeah,” she giggled.

He started splashing her in retaliation. Camila squealed and started swimming away. “Ahh! No!”

“Come back here, Cabello!” he called after her jovially.

Louis slapped the water heavily and sent a large wave towards her. Camila squealed in surprise and shuddered at the contact.

She heard something materialize near his clothes just as Louis ducked his head under water and got his hair wet. Camila’s smile turned to a frown. They did it, and they all saw her photos and were probably judging her for it. She couldn’t dwell too much on it now, they still had to escape from Louis’s wrath.

Camila began to swim towards him with a small smile.

The omnicoder rang suddenly. _Yes!_

Louis furrowed his brows and turned to look back at the shore. “Oh,” Camila said with a wry smile. “I guess you better get that.”

“I wonder who would be…” Louis gasped as he started swimming back towards the shore. Camila swam behind him. “Hold on a second, Cabello.” He finally reached the shore and dashed towards the omnicoder.

She stopped and watched him from the water. Louis picked up the device and examined it. “It’s the door.”

“Oh… okay,” Camila pretended to sound bewildered and oblivious.

“Pause game.”

The device whirred and Camila thrusted herself forward to get to shore as fast as possible. Cold and soaking wet, she nearly slipped on the rocky surface as she tried to climb up to Louis. “Ally, pick me up!” she ordered into the omnicoder.

_“You got it, Mila. Stand by.”_

Camila ran over to her clothes and picked them up. She’d have to change her clothes when she arrived on the ship.

“Fuck!” Camila moaned as she materialized onto the _USS Callister_. “I’m so fucking cold and wet.”

Lauren looked up from Normani’s console screen and looked at her. Her gaze roamed over her dripping body and she licked her lips. “Damn, have a nice swim?”

“Shut up,” Camila hissed in reply.

She held her hands up in defense. “Sorry, _Camz._ Thought I’d lighten the mood.”

“Well, _Lolo,_ you can take your lightened mood and shove it up your ass,” she fired back lamely. Camila looked over at Ariana. “Can you help me?”  
Ariana nodded and ran over to aid her in putting her outfit back on.

Camila was pulling up the zipper of her skirt when a notification flashed across the scene that told them that ‘Camila Cabello has joined Infinity’.

“That’s the signal!” Camila cheered. “She got the DNA.” Lauren’s lips parted slightly and worry flashed across her features. She smiled at her boss softly. “All of it. Mikey too.”

Lauren exhaled and turned back to the front of the ship.

Camila clapped her hands together and rolled her stressed shoulders out. “Normani, we ready to fly?”

“Yep,” Normani replied as she gripped the throttle.

She waited for Normani to go, but she didn’t. She appeared to be waiting for something too. Camila’s forehead creased. “Well?”

Normani sighed and turned around. “You’re supposed to say something like ‘engage’ or ‘increase thrust’,” she stated a matter-of-factly.

“Ugh, just fucking go,” Camila snapped.

Normani chuckled and pushed the right throttle forward and the engines revved. The ship shook violently and then burst into hyperspeed.

She gripped onto the side of the railing as the _USS Callister_ sped off into space. They were going crazy fast, but Camila worried that it wouldn’t be fast enough. She wobbled a bit and then ran to Normani. “Can’t we go any faster?” she cried out. “The dud disk isn’t going to fool him forever!” Camila paced back to the back of the bridge and sighed. “The update is gonna complete before long and that means bye-bye, wormhole.”

“The only quicker route is through that asteroid belt there,” Normani replied. She pointed to the red zone on her map with tons of dots and a danger warning.

Camila nodded frantically as she returned to where Normani was. “Then let’s go that way!”

“No! It’s way too dense,” Lauren argued with pursed lips from the other side of Normani. “I’m sorry, Mani, but I don’t think even _you_ can get through that belt and you’re good at piloting.”

“If the ship broke up, we wouldn’t die, we’d just be floating in space,” Ally added on.

Lauren voiced out an “mhm” and grimaced. “Until Tomlinson works out what’s happening. He’ll find us and fuck us over.”

_“Tomlinson to bridge. What’s going on?”_

Camila’s jaw dropped. There was no fucking way… how did Louis get back so fast? This was bad. This was really bad. “Shit. He has a backup disk. Why didn’t I think this through?” she whined.

_“Come in, bridge.”_

Her head whipped around to find Ariana moving to press a button to answer him. Camila gasped and ran over to her. “No!” She grabbed Ariana’s hand and forced it away from the console. “Don’t answer him,” she warned.

_“Hernandez?”_

Ally whimpered. “Oh, Lord Jesus.” She glanced down at her screen. “The wormhole is decreasing in size.”

Camila rushed back over to Ally’s side. “Shit, the upload must be in the last few percent.” Camila moved over to Normani, accidentally bumping into Lauren. She briefly mumbled her apology and then slammed her hand on the console near Normani. “We’re gonna have to fly through that asteroid belt!” Normani exhaled heavily. “Do you think you can do that?”

“I think I can try,” she answered.

Camila nodded. “Okay.”

Normani pulled the throttles to the right and the ship leaned suddenly before balancing out when it faced the asteroid belt. She pushed the controls forward and sent the ship into the belt.

“I’ve got a heat signature!” Ally cried out. “A shuttle just took off from Skillane IV.”

“Fuck, it’s Tomlinson!” Camila groaned.

The ship began to maneuver through the large asteroids causing the ship to shake suddenly. Camila and Lauren nearly lost their balance and they both clutched the console for dear life.

“If I accidentally grab your tit because of all this shaking,” Lauren mumbled in her ear. “I’m sorry in advance.”

Camila shrugged. “I don’t think you really will be, but whatever.”

Lauren started to laugh but she was interrupted by yet another jolt of the ship. Camila nearly collapsed against Lauren and Normani’s chair. They must have hit an asteroid.

“Shields at 86%,” Ariana reported warily.

Another banging on the left side threw Lauren onto Camila. Ally was clutching onto the controls for dear life. The poor girl was lighter than a feather and could easily go flying.

The ship continued shaking and jolting at each impact.

“We’re taking a beating here!” Ally screamed.

A asteroid hit the ship from behind and caused Camila to slump forward.

“Incoming transmission,” Ariana reported despite all the chaos.

_“Hello? Loyal trusty crew, come in. I know you can hear me. Whatever it is you think you’re going to do won’t work, but it is going to cost you!”_

“We need to go faster,” Camila pleaded.

Normani shook her head and frowned. “We’re already at maximum speed.”

“Tomlinson can’t touch us unless he makes it on board, and that shuttle’s a piece of poop,” Ally yelled over the loud bangs of the ship. “He won’t catch us in time.”

“I hope you’re right,” Camila replied loudly.

“Shields currently at 58%,” Ariana shouted.

More crashing and shaking, the ship was taking way too much damage. They came up to two asteroids about to collide into each other. Normani’s quick thinking allowed her to lean the ship and avoid the asteroids.

_“If you thought what happened in the past was bad, that was nothing! What I’m going to do to you is going to be goddamn fucking biblical! I’ll turn your insides out, literally. But I’ll keep you alive inside tiny little jars and you’ll stay there until I’m bored of you-”_

“I wonder if this fuck gets off on the sadistic shit he says,” Lauren commented with a grimace.

Camila huffed. “Why are we even listening to this?”

“Yeah, fuck him!” Ariana growled as she muted the transmission.

Normani grunted. “Mila, we’re at the edge of the belt.” A small smile formed on her lips. “I think we’re gonna make it!”

The ship continued speeding towards the wormhole, but then the ship hit something beneath them. An alarm started blaring and Camila tensed. The machines and computers were breaking down. She and her co-workers ducked down and screamed.

Then, the lights shut off briefly before returning as the ship slowed down to a stop.

The alarm stopped and the power shut down.

“What was that?” Camila gasped.

“Primary drive,” Ally gulped. “Main power must be down.”

Normani began pressing buttons and attempting to thrust the throttle forward. “I’ve lost all thrust, the engine’s not responding.”

Camila began to shake. “Oh, no.”

Lauren sighed and stepped away from Normani’s station. “We’re drifting,” she hissed. “We’ve lost.”

The ship began to veer off into a direction away from the wormhole right in front of them.

“There’s gotta be a way to fix the engines,” Camila said frustratedly.

Ally frowned and shook her head. “We’d have to do it manually by climbing into the jet fader.”

“So…?”

“You’d burn to a crisp when the engine turned out,” Normani clarified darkly.

Ally grimaced and sighed, briefly glancing at Normani. “We’d burn without dying.”

“One of us needs to go in,” Camila said. She ran a hand through her hair and exhaled heavily. That wasn’t going to be an easy task. Burning alive sounded like hell, but she promised that she’d save them. “I’ll go-”

 _“One of us already has,”_ Lauren’s exhausted voice came from the speakers.

Camila glanced around the room in shock. Sure enough, Lauren had snuck away during their conversation. “Lauren?”

 _“I’m pretty sure I can fix this,”_ Lauren continued through loud pants and heavy breathing.

“Lauren, uh, a-are you sure about this?” Camila asked warily. Her heart rate increased at the thought of Lauren burning alive. “I could go instead. I’m new and-”

 _“I’m sure!”_ Lauren yelled, voice echoing. She must have already gotten into the jet fader. _“Ariana, can you patch me through to Tomlinson?”_

Ariana pressed a few buttons on her console. “Patching through.”

 _“Hey, Tomlinson, can you hear me?”_ _  
_

Camila raised a brow. “Wait, how are we hearing their conversation?”

“There’s some science to it,” Ariana replied. “But basically we’re like a pathway. We’re the mother communicator and Lauren’s the daughter. Everything she hears and says, we’ll hear too.”

Ally opened her mouth to say something, but Ariana glared at her. “Ally, I love you, but I do not need to hear the correct terminology for what I just said.”

 _“Jauregui?”_ Louis asked in surprise.

Lauren’s loud breathing could be heard as she spoke, _“Louis? Hey.”_

 _“Jauregui, you’re gonna pay for this,”_ he warned.

 _“Louis, listen-”_ Lauren tried to say.

_“I’m going to bring Mikey back in!”_

Lauren groaned. _“Hey, Louis-”_

 _“God so help me, you are going to regret all of this!”_ Louis shouted.

 _“Lou, for fuck’s sake, I’m trying to talk to you here. Will you listen!?”_ Lauren fired back. When Louis didn’t respond, Camila heard Lauren sigh. _“I was thinking I should say… sorry.”_

Silence on both ends. Camila turned to look at Normani and Ally. Both of them looked quite apprehensive. As for Ariana, that girl looked like she was living for the drama with her small smirk.

 _“Go on,”_ Louis croaked.

 _“You created_ Infinity. _You’re a fucking genius. And I exploited that… I treated you like a golden goose while I went from broke single mother to multi-millionaire legend.”_ Lauren exhaled. _“I was thinking I should’ve appreciated you more, you know? I should have treated you better. You were my business partner, for God’s sake!”_ She chuckled softly to herself. The line crackled a bit before she continued talking. _“Yeah, I was thinking I should say all of that…”_

Lauren let out an exasperated sigh and laughed again. _“But you threw my son out of an airlock, so fuck you to death.”_

A loud grunt came from Lauren as a bit of machinery began rattling. Her grunts turned into agonizing screams, no doubt burning to a crisp as she fired the engines up. Camila bit her lip so hard that she could’ve sworn that it would start drawing blood.

Her screams echoed throughout the _USS Callister_ and it fucking stung her to hear her cry out in pain. Another person sacrificing themselves for Camila when it should have been her. It wasn’t fair.

The screaming stopped suddenly, cut off short by who knew what. Camila had a bad feeling about that. “Oh my God, L-Lauren,” she stuttered.

“She’s not dead,” Normani said. “She can’t die with the immortality mod, but poor girl is probably completely charred or ejected into space.”

“Ejected into space!?” Camila repeated loudly. She exhaled heavily and held her hand over her mouth to muffle her sob. She hardly _knew_ her, but Lauren had done so much for her in the office and in this twisted nightmare. Camila could’ve had a chance to properly get to know her better and possibly connect with her further, but that was all taken away from her. Dinah and Lauren were both gone. “Lauren…”

Ariana frowned. “Mila, if anything she’s free now. She’s free from Tomlinson’s torture. Poor girl has been trapped in for three years.”

The power began to boot up and the lights flickered back on. The engine whirred and revved. Normani pressed a few buttons and squealed in delight. “The power’s back!” Normani turned the ship back on and then pushed the throttle forward. The ship jerked forward and burst towards the wormhole.

They were nearing the wormhole, but a danger alert went off on Ally’s scanner. “Wormhole’s almost closed. Tomlinson’s gaining on us!” she cried out.

“Keep her steady, keep steady,” Camila mumbled in a hoarse voice and strained tone, clearly still upset.

“I’m trying,” Normani growled.

Ariana rushed forward to the front console and slammed her hands on it. “I hope we’re going to die,” she pleaded.

Camila chewed on her lower lip and closed her eyes. She moved to place her left hand on Normani’s shoulder and then grab Ariana’s hand. Ariana intertwined their fingers. Camila never thought she’d be holding hands with a Violet Beauregarde knock-off, but that wasn’t one of the most screwed up things she’d ever done. Ariana reached over and grabbed Ally’s hand, who squeezed Ariana in return.

“Please, God, have mercy,” Ally prayed quietly as she shut her eyes.

The ship flew into the wormhole at last and the _USS Callister_ ’s fate would soon be determined.

Camila’s eyes flew open as the ship speeded through the wormhole. She started screaming and Normani, Ally, and Ariana joined her. Suddenly it felt like her face was being pulled apart. Her left side of her face felt blurry and stretched out. It must’ve been the system trying to read her and take all the rogue code out.

And then? Darkness.

The lights of the ship then turned back on. They were much brighter and shinier than the ones before. Electronic devices were making high-pitched noises.

Camila glanced around the bridge. The technology had been updated and now showed much more advanced computer screens and scanners. It was so… strange. “What happened?” Camila asked the question on everyone’s minds.

Ally brought her hands up to her temples and gasped. The small computer implants in her were gone. “The mod’s gone!” She ran a hand through her straightened dirty blonde hair. “My hair’s back to how it was!”

Ariana looked at her hands and then ran a hand through her ponytail then gasped in delight. Her blue skin returned to its caramel complexion.

Camila looked over at Normani. Her hair was no longer donned in a bob and was back to her slightly curled waves. She was wearing a black jumpsuit too. In fact, _all_ of them were.

“Tomlinson’s _Space Fleet_ mod has been stripped away by the firewall,” Ally explained.

Ariana nodded. “That’s good, right?” Camila ran her hand through her hair. It was long and wavy just like how she had it in the real world.

“We’re still alive!” Normani pointed out.

“Yeah… I guess it only deleted the Space Fleet mod,” Ally replied with a shrug.

Camila pursed her lips and glanced out the front window. “We’re not on his computer anymore. We’re in the cloud!”

“Speaking of which, where is that piece of shit?” Ariana asked.

Ally typed some things into her computer and gasped. “Oh, dear. The firewall’s deleted his rogue game code and his controls were disabled.”

“You mean…?”

“He’s stuck there.”

Camila broke out into a grin and laughed. “Holy shit!” She sighed and shook her head. “Still, Lauren… the immortality mod is gone now. She’s dead for sure now,” she noted sadly.

“Mila,” Ally breathed out. “We’re all gonna miss her, but it was her who saved our lives. We should be grateful.”

The door to the bridge slid open. There stood three figures waiting for them with wide smiles.

“Assholes!” Dinah screamed excitedly. Her hair was back to her curly blonde mane. Thank God, that bun was hideous.

“Hey, pretty bitches!” Justin greeted with a huge smile. He no longer looked like a creepy long-haired villain but instead his charming self with spiky brown hair.

A woman with long blue hair sighed and walked in the bridge first. “Man, it’s good to be back. My time was way too short here.”

Dinah and Justin grinned and entered the bridge. Camila squealed in surprise and ran over to Dinah. She jumped into the Polynesian’s arms and wrapped her legs around her waist to give her a big koala hug.

“What’s up guys?” Justin cheered. “The brig unlocked itself!”

Dinah pried Camila off of her and smirked. “I have a surprise for you.”

The bridge’s door opened to reveal an unharmed Lauren Jauregui in a jumpsuit and wavy black hair.

“Hey, Camz? Next time if I willingly sacrifice myself for you, make sure it ain’t by burning to death,” Lauren said cheerfully.

Camila gasped and ran over to Lauren. She grabbed her hands and pulled her into the bridge. “You’re here! You’re alive… how?”

“Whatever you did reset my code and everything was removed. Although the immortality mod was stripped, so was any damage inflicted on me,” Lauren explained as she squeezed Camila’s hands. “Coding is fucking awesome.”

Camila just smiled and threw her arms around Lauren, who quickly returned the embrace with the softest of smiles. “I’m so relieved,” she mumbled.

“I can’t believe my Bieber outfit changed into this snazzy shit,” Justin pointed out as he twirled around.

Dinah rolled her eyes and stalked over to Normani. “More importantly, I’m not a fucking beetle thing anymore. I’ve got my body back.” She grinned and turned to Normani. Both of them exchanged shy glances and nervous smiles. “I got my whole body back. I’m guessing we all have.”

The blue-haired woman grinned. “Yeah! I’m no longer a spider freak.”

Normani pulled her pants forward and gasped. “Holy shit.” She looked back up at Dinah and smirked at her suggestively.

“Wait… my pussy’s back?” Lauren pulled away from Camila and looked down her pants. She squealed excitedly. “My pussy is back in business bitches! Man, I am getting off tonight!”

“Gross.” Camila pushed away from Lauren as the green-eyed girl winked at her.

At the same time Ally said, “please remember that I’m here, guys.”

Camila smiled. It was so nice to see everyone happy and jovial again. “So, what do we do now?”

“We’ve got an infinite procedurally generated universe at our disposal,” Ally responded. “We can go anywhere…”

“Holy mackerel,” Camila breathed out in disbelief as she turned to the front of the ship. She knew just what to do. The _USS Callister_ was about to become the number one ship in the entire game.

* * *

“Incoming transmission,” Ariana reported. “From… Gamer691.”

“That’s a player tag!” Ally said excitedly. “Another ship, another player!”

Camila bit her lip. “We’re online.”

Things had changed for the better for the _USS Callister_ . By a unanimous vote, Camila was made the new captain of the ship. Lauren kept her post as second-in-command. Since _Infinity_ had different officer positions than _Space Fleet_ , they had to make a few more adjustments to other officers. Dinah was moved to tactical officer while Ariana was made communications officer instead. Ally was no longer the diagnostics officer, but instead the engineering officer. Justin was made science and operations officer and Ashley was appointed to medical officer. Normani was still the helmswoman because that was what she was best at.

“Okay, patch ‘em through,” Camila ordered.

The system beeped to signify the transmission had been received.

“Um, hello,” she greeted.

 _“Hey there,”_ the gamer said creepily.

“This is the crew of the _USS Callister_.” Camila laughed and rolled her eyes at how cheesy that sounded. “Oh, man, are we glad to hear from-”

_“Yeah, Merry Christmas. So are we gonna blow each other or are we gonna trade?”_

Camila raised a brow. “Oh, uh…” She turned to Lauren. “Lo, do we have anything to trade?”

Lauren shook her head as she pressed a few buttons. “Negative. We have absolutely no resources or goods.”

 _“Why did you respond then?”_ The gamer sighed agitatedly. _“Fine, just get the hell out of my quadrant or I’ll blast you to shit. You got ten seconds! Ten...”_

“Do try!” Dinah shouted. “We’ll photon-bolt you up the perineum, you stupid little boy! What are you, twelve? Don’t fuck with the crew of the _USS Callister_.” Normani looked at her with wide eyes.

_“Oooh, scary. Nine.”_

Dinah growled and started advancing towards the center of the room. “You know I mean business when I talk nerd, and I just did! Come get a Poly beatdown!”

“Alright, alright, thank you, Dinah,” Camila hissed and glared at her.

_“Eight.”_

Camila placed her hands on her hips and shrugged. “Uh, Mani?”

_“Seven.”_

“Yes, Captain?” Normani looked up at her attentively.

She shuddered, not at all used to be referring to that title. “Stick us in hyperwarp and let’s…” Camila paused and sat down in her chair, leaning back against it.

_“Six.”_

“...fuck off somewhere,” Camila finished with a shrug.

_“Five.”_

Normani saluted. “Aye-aye, Captain.”

Camila rolled her eyes. “Jesus Christ, don’t call me Captain _all_ the time. Camila is fine,” she groaned.

_“Four.”_

Normani chuckled and grabbed the throttles. “Aye-aye, Camila.”

_“Three.”_

As Normani pushed the handles forward, Camila’s lips curved into a smirk as she looked out the window. _Don’t you worry_ Infinity, _the_ USS Callister _is going to rule you someday._

_“Two. One!”_

The ship burst into hyperwarp and onto their next adventure with their seven strong women and a somewhat strong man.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm currently prepping for exams and such so part two may not come for a while. but i'll slowly but surely be working on it over the next couple of weeks or so! stay tuned, my dudes.
> 
> edit: i decided it was best to leave it as a one-shot. i'm sorry guys! but just know that our girls end up very happy in their digitally generated universe. :)))


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